Independence Day Provided Other Sparks

I had already settled in for the evening while abundant shrieks and bangs of Fourth of July celebrations were going on outside of the house on Monday evening, July 4, 2022. Not for long. My weather radio alarm sounded around 8:30 pm, prompting me to quickly check radar. The alert was for a tornado-warned cell occurring in Fayette County, located about 55 miles to the north-northwest and tracking southeast. Too far to intercept at this time of the day, but it occurred to me that it might be possible to catch a glimpse of it from the park behind our house. Sure enough, there it was, peeking through a gap in other clouds, beautifully illuminated by the setting sun and laden with mammatus within its anvil. The above image looks toward the storm as seen from near Bowman Woods Elementary School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 8:48 pm CDT.

Similar capture at 8:50 pm. For several minutes I had to continually wipe the lens of my camera as it kept fogging over due to atmospheric conditions (85 degrees F, dew point 77 degrees, relative humidity 77%). Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Radarscope reflectivity image from 8:50 pm, corresponding to the photo above it.

Echo tops graphic for 8:50 pm, showing cloud elevations surging to 55,000 feet. As the storm continued to track southeast and the sun went down, there were plenty of lightning flashes emanating from it--a natural display of Independence Day sparks!