Storm Prediction Center (SPC) convective outlooks on Tuesday, July 13, 2021 were showing an Enhanced Risk of severe weather a day before the event would occur, and this prompted some serious attention on my part. Forecasts for Eastern Iowa on the morning of Wednesday, July 14 called for morning storms to roll through before a redevelopment of severe weather in the afternoon and evening, and indeed this occurred. The images above show an approaching storm at 10:41 am CDT (left) and again at 10:50 am, looking west and northwest from 33rd Avenue and 12th Street SW in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. These morning storms brought some wind, heavy rain and pea size hail to the area. iPhone 11 camera.
As the morning storms passed and the sun came out again, the atmosphere was becoming unstable, and Tornado Watch 378 (above) was posted at 2:38 pm CDT.
Following close on the heels of the tornado watch was a new SPC posting at 2:48 pm (above), indicating a similar area of Enhanced Risk, but a greater tornado probability (10% hatched) for Iowa.
I admittedly got a slow start setting out north from Cedar Rapids to catch storms that were forming in central Iowa. These storms went tornado warned around 4:00 pm. My route for interception was Interstate 380. In the (4:42 pm) Radarscope image above, I navigate north (northwest) on I-380 to catch up with the two tornado-warned cells. My location is indicated by the blue target icon at right.
5:10 pm CDT. Cloud tops from the tornado-warned system are now becoming more obvious in this view while northbound (NW) on I-380, about .35-mile north of the Brandon, Iowa exit (330th Street) in Buchanan County. The storms were about 30 miles distant, and some of their cloud tops were reaching 60,000 feet.
Radar image capture corresponding to the photograph above it.
5:18 pm. Looking west at the leading edge of the southernmost cell from about 6 miles south of the I-380/US Highway 20 interchange. The storm cell was about 30 miles distant.
Radar image for 5:30 pm, showing the northernmost cell and my approach to it.
5:36 pm. Looking west at tornado on the ground while northbound on Highway 54 (Canfield Road), about .9-mile north of the intersection of Highway 57 (East Cedar Wapsi Road) in northern Black Hawk County. Tornado was about 12 miles distant.
Radar image capture corresponding to photograph above it.
5:37 pm. Similar image to previous photograph.
5:39 pm.
GoPro Hero 4 video frame capture. Westbound on East Marquis Road, about 8 miles east of Denver, Iowa, along the Black Hawk/Bremer county line. The tornado was about 6-7 miles distant.
5:40 pm. Tornado on the ground (at right and seconds from lifting) seen while westbound on East Marquis Road, about 8 miles east of Denver, Iowa, along the Black Hawk/Bremer county line. The tornado was about 6-7 miles distant.
5:43 pm. The tornado has lifted, but the wall cloud from where it had emanated remains. Looking west from my first stationary spotting location on Tahoe Avenue at Marquis Road along the Black Hawk/Bremer county line. The approaching wall cloud is about 3 miles distant.
Radar image capture closely corresponding to the photograph above it.
GoPro Hero 4 video frame captures of CG lightning emanating from the storm. Time range was 5:42-5:46 pm.
5:46 pm. A view of my spotting position.
5:48 pm. Approaching wall cloud.
5:52 pm. Similar view.
6:00 pm. With the tornado-warned storm drawing ever closer to me, and with a large number of good storm shots already captured, I decided to head back south the way I had come, anticipating processing these captures upon arriving at home. The emergency alert image seen above occurred as I started my way home. As I headed back south on I-380, my radar showed another tornado-warned cell approaching the town of Center Point in northern Linn County from the west. With a good two hours of daylight left and a great spotting location option at the large truck stop there, this became my new objective.
Radar image capture for 7:08 pm. Two tornado-warned polygons are approaching my stationary spotting location (number 2) at the Center Point truck stop (Center Point Travel Plaza). The Linn County ARES amateur radio net is activated at this development and I check in.
7:11 pm. Looking west at the leading edge of the approaching storm.
8:17 pm. Looking WSW at a dangerous lowering feature that was not well defined to my naked eye realtime as it was rain wrapped and of very low contrast. The camera brought out much more vivid detail in post processing later.
8:20 pm. Another frightening image of a funnel cloud, less than three miles distant, resolved better by the camera. For better or worse, I now decide to pull out of this location and continue south on I-380.
Velocity radar for 8:20 pm, showing the area of the image above this one, and my location.
8:26 pm. One last parting shot of the funnel captured through the front driver's side window as I sped south, and south of Center Point. My next (and last) spotting location objective was the Toddville, Iowa exit, just one exit north of Cedar Rapids.
8:32 pm. Pulling off on the west side of the Toddville exit (County Home Road), the rain had stopped, revealing this beautiful "mother ship" feature, complete with "stacked cake layers" and a ragged wall cloud hanging low to the ground beneath it. In my haste to jump out of my vehicle and fire off quick shots of the storm feature before it changed or dissipated, low light conditions caused some blurring in the next few images. This image looks WNW.
8:33 pm. Similar shot. Storm was about 7 miles distant.
8:37 pm. Storm structure has two unusual horn-like protrusions above the lowering, and is beginning to form a tail cloud at right.
8:38 pm. Similar capture.
8:43 pm. Now using a tripod. Storm, about 7 miles distant, has moved toward the northeast (left-to-right in this image), and is now seen in the north sky. Interstate 380 is at right in the background.
8:46 pm. Similar capture. Note low wall cloud.
8:47 pm. Mesocyclone is now featuring numerous tendrils and a "cap."
8:49 pm. Storm continues to move away to the northeast.
8:59 pm. This is a GoPro Hero 4 video frame capture of the storm as it is illuminated by a brilliant lightning flash.
8:59 pm. Similar GoPro capture.
9:01 pm. The southwestern segment of this tornado-warned storm now drifts into view, this one sporting a shelf cloud. This storm is about 9 miles distant.
9:03 pm. Striking capture of both cells in the same image, with the more distant cell moving out.
9:04 pm. Large shelf cloud to north.
Radar image capture corresponding to 9:05 pm. The west and east tornado-warned cells are indicated with black arrows, the target icon being my location. White arrows indicate storm track.
9:07 pm. Similar capture with prominent tail cloud at right.
9:12 pm. Panorama of closer storm cell.
9:13 pm. With darkness settled in and storms moving away from my general area, I decided to check out of the Linn County ARES net and call it a night. What a day it had been! My limited area of operation was part of a day in which 26 individual tornadoes were confirmed in Iowa--the third most ever in the state for a 24 hour period! Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.
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