First Significant Severe Weather Event in Iowa for 2020

The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) posted a Moderate Risk for extreme eastern Iowa, northeast Missouri and north-central Illinois (March 27, 2020) a day in advance of the expected event. Conditions looked ripe for an significant outbreak with heavy Convective Outlook, tornado, hail and wind forecasts shown in the images above, posted at 3:06 pm CDT, Saturday, March 28.

Seeing that an SPC update just before noon showed the Moderate Risk area boundary still holding from just west of Davenport, Iowa it was time to head there, especially with storm initiation predicted to begin around 2:00 pm. My personal rule when I am spotting alone is to limit my distance from home to about 60 miles in any direction, so crossing over into Illinois was not an option. My target was "The World's Largest Truckstop," located on Interstate 80 at Walcott, Iowa, just west of Davenport. As I approached the Walcott exit I quickly altered my plans, seeing an empty Days Inn parking lot south of the road, which had an excellent view of the south and west skies. Above is an interior view of my vehicle at 1:30 pm, with my various electronic devices, radios and cameras set for spotting operations.

1:30 pm. My backseat, with camera gear, jackets and lunch.

1:30 pm. Rear view of my vehicle, in full spotting mode in a deserted Days Inn parking lot.

2:40 pm. A Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Tornado Watch 69 is issued (above right image), and conditions appeared to be getting serious now, despite relatively cool air temperatures (mid-50s) in the Davenport area.

3:09 pm. A quick "selfie" pose outside my vehicle before the expected storm initiation.

4:07 pm. Waiting and waiting. This image looks southwest at some rising cumulus from the motel's parking lot at Walcott, Iowa.

4:09 pm. More beautiful cumulus to the southwest, this one with crepuscular rays behind it. But no storms. To pass the time, I ate my lunch/dinner and viewed generally benign skies in all directions. The grim realization soon became evident that it now was, at least on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River, a bust. Around this time a friend of mine, Mike Graber (W0WWX), texted me that severe storms were firing up east of Des Moines in central Iowa. At 4:30 pm I finished my meal, cut my losses, and headed back west to attempt an intercept there.

5:42 pm. Back north on Interstate 380, approaching the Center Point, Iowa exit (Exit 35) in Linn County. Ominous storm clouds are piling up to my west and northwest. The most intense part of this storm is about 32 miles distant.

5:45 pm. Northbound (NW) on I-380 with the southern tip of this storm cell visible to my west. These storms were fast movers.

5:48 pm. Looking west while northbound (NW) on I-380, just north of the Urbana, Iowa exit (Exit 41), as my closure with the storm has now blotted out the sun. Note the translucent appearance of the bottom part of the clouds.

Similar view from 5:48 pm.

5:48 pm Radarscope loop frame capture of the storm, with my mobile location seen at right.

Ever closer at 5:51 pm. South of Brandon, Iowa.

5:54 pm. Continuing north (NW) on I-380, approaching the Brandon, Iowa exit (Exit 49).

6:00 pm. Brief stationary position on Brandon Diagonal Boulevard, .1-mile north of 330th Street (County Road V71, background), and about .9-mile west of the town of Brandon. Storm is approaching from the right in the image.

6:06 pm. Resuming a northbound (NW) travel on I-380, with a now tornado-warned cell to my west. Storms were still tracking to the NNE.

6:08 pm. Northbound (NW), just south of the LaPorte City, Iowa exit (Exit 55) in Black Hawk County. Another tornado-warned cell can be seen in the distance to the right.

6:08 pm. This tornado-warned cell is located about 6 miles to my north.

6:08 pm. Tornado-warned area with extended inflow cloud (right), not readily apparent to me at the moment.

Radarscope image corresponding to the tornado-warned cell from 6:08 pm CDT, and my mobile position relative to it.

6:14 pm. Conditions began to get dicey. Nearing mile marker 60 while northbound (NW) on I-380, the wind began to increase rapidly as did the rain. A Tornado Warning Emergency Alert (inset) sounded on my cell phone. Swirls of rain and pea-sized hail blasted my vehicle and I quickly found refuge on the shoulder, a short distance beyond a group of three parked cars with their flashers gleaming. The winds abated in just a few minutes (was this the circulation of a tornado?) and I resumed travel to the next exit in order to turn back south.

Radarscope image for 6:15 pm with my position, roughly corresponding to the photograph above it.

6:27 pm. Now southbound (SE) on I-380 and looking east at the area of the storm that had previously rolled over me.

6:38 pm. Brief spotting stop and looking west at the Iowa DOT facility on 31st Avenue (Highway 150), .4-mile south of I-380, and about one mile northwest of Urbana, Iowa.

6:45 pm. Looking north along Highway 150, .4-mile south of I-380 near Urbana, with the storm at left and a rainbow at right, created from an open area of the setting sun toward the left of the image.

6:46 pm. Rainbow directly ahead from the southbound onramp to I-380 near Urbana.

Returning south to Linn County I chose the Toddville exit and County Home Road east and tuned into the Linn County ARES radio frequency (146.745). Hearing net-controlled spotter traffic, I checked in and volunteered to resume spotting north from Highway 13. Net Controller Scott Haney (N0GUD) directed me to set up a stationary spotting location from Highway 13 and County Home Road, north of Marion, Iowa, and I did so. Brightening skies to the west interacting with nearby clouds created fiery sky appearances, as shown in the image above, captured at 7:11 pm.

7:15 pm. Another view of the water tower looking southwest from County Home Road and Highway 13, north of Marion.

Meanwhile, looking northeast at an area of interest in a tornado-warned cell from the same location on County Home Road, just east of Highway 13 at 7:22 pm.

7:29 pm. A strong updraft area looking in the same direction. The base of this updraft featured a brief funnel-like object that quickly dissipated.

7:33 pm. Panorama looking east from same location on County Home Road (E34), just east of Highway 13, and just north of Marion. The severe threat for Linn County then ended as storms moved out and shortly after this capture the spotter net was closed and I returned home. Total driving distance: 234 miles. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.