Two isolated severe-warned storm cells, one to the northwest of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and one to the north and northeast, stood out dramatically in the setting sun on Tuesday evening, June 28, 2022. This Radarscope image, corresponding to 8:21 pm CDT, shows both storm cells in relation to my location at Noelridge Christian Church (42° 3'0.20"N, 91°38'28.00"W) (blue target icon). The northwestern storm was about 80 miles distant, and was located west of the town of Waverly into Butler County. The storm system to the north was located about 60 miles distant, just north of Elkader in Clayton County.
8:23 pm. The northwest storm cell stood out on my horizon with startling beauty. In this image it covers the sun and its anvil spreads out ahead of its most intense area for many miles.
8:23 pm. Looking north from the church's baseball diamond along 74th Street NE. In the background is a portion of the northern storm.
8:27 pm. Panorama looking northeast, from the west grounds of the church and with much of the distant severe-warned storm system in the background.
8:38 pm. Northwest storm now starting to show crepuscular rays.
Definition of a crepuscular ray: "A sunbeam that appears to radiate from the position of the sun, while shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered sunlight are essentially parallel shafts separated by darker shadowed volumes."
8:43 pm. Crepuscular and anti-crepuscular rays begin to emanate more intensely from the right side of the storm as it tracks southeast. I had witnessed spectacular crepuscular displays before--in particular an event occurring on June 9, 2018 that emanated from a tornado-warned cell near Shueyville, Iowa and spread across the sky. But all previously seen displays were linear or spiked in nature. What unfolded this evening was a first for me--an arch!
8:44 pm. Twelve vertical-stitch-image panorama of my once-in-a-lifetime crepuscular/anti-crepuscular arch encounter. In this image the arch begins from the storm cell at left (west) and ends in the east sky (right).
8:44 pm. Closeup of the brilliant east sky terminus of the arch. Parking lot at Noelridge Christian Church is shown in the foreground.
8:44 pm. Closeup of crepuscular beam emanating from storm cell to the west/northwest (left).
8:44 pm. Looking east at terminus of crepuscular arch from parking lot. A section of the severe-warned storm system to the northeast can also be seen on the horizon. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.
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2 comments:
Hey Gregg. These images of the crepuscular arch are some of the most unique weather images I have ever seen. Being one of those people who almost always has my head to the sky, especially at sunset, I have been witness to a lot of the crepuscular rays beauty. I have never in my 65 years witnessed rays emitting from west to east like this. Nor have I ever seen any published images of such. Outstanding job capturing this. #uniqueweather #greggalliss #crepuscularrays #anticrepuscularrays #iowaweather
Very well stated. And I am 65 years old as well. It's refreshing to know that in that amount of time you think you've seen it all, then some event comes along to dramatically correct you. This optical event also persisted long enough for me to take my time in capturing it on camera. Thanks for the comment. Gregg
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