Peaceful Easy Feeling

A colorful sunset sky provided a serene mood on Friday evening, September 24, 2021. This image looks northwest at 7:31 pm CDT from Bowstring Drive in the Bowman Meadows housing development in Marion, Iowa.

Similar view at 7:34 pm from Bowstring Drive at Bowman Meadows Drive. Air temperature was 60 degrees F. iPhone 11 camera.

Read more...

I See Spots Before My Eyes

Alerted by spaceweather.com that large sunspots, big enough to engulf a planet, were rotating into view from Earth on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, so I captured this image of the sun from my back deck in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 4:12 pm CDT. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera with a Seymour Solar 62mm threaded filter. Image is a 1/500 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 400, 300mm focal length.

Read more...

Storms, Storms and More Storms

Several August 2021 storms, three in the area and one in Minnesota are posted here. Above, a line of storms approaches 33rd Avenue at 12th Street SW in Cedar Rapids, Iowa from the southwest in this panorama shot captured at 6:24 am CDT on Monday August 23. 

Similar shot taken at same time. iPhone 11 camera.

Severe Thunderstorm Watch #461, posted at 1:50 pm CDT, Tuesday, August 24. 

2:14 pm. Storm cell looking southwest as seen from 33rd Avenue at 12th Street SW in Cedar Rapids.

2:31 pm. Zoomed-in capture.

Radarscope image corresponding to the photograph above it.

3:01 pm. Storm cell panorama. The most intense areas of this severe-warned storm were located about 40 miles distant. Visual distance from left-to-right of this cell was about 70 miles.

Radarscope image corresponding to the photograph above it.

5:45 pm. Incoming shelf cloud to the west, as seen from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids.

Radarscope image, corresponding to the photograph above it.

4:58 pm CDT, Thursday, August 26. Looking southwest at mammatus formations, as seen from the Interstate 380 truck stop at Center Point, Iowa. 

5:27 pm. Approaching shelf cloud from the west at the Center Point truck stop.

5:33 pm. Looking west. Rain shafts at left, shelf cloud at right.

5:36 pm. Similar capture.

5:38 pm. Shelf cloud panorama looking north.

5:40 pm. Similar shot.

5:43 pm. Looking northeast at the leading edge of shelf cloud about to overtake the truck stop in Center Point.

3:13 pm CDT, Friday, August 27. Shelf cloud seen while northbound on US Highway 52 near the Miracle Mile mall area of Rochester, Minnesota. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Read more...