One Foggy Christmas Eve Eve

Mild conditions before Christmas 2023 created fog and misty rain instead of snow starting December 22 and continuing to Christmas Day. The following five images were captured near and in Boyson Park at the border of Marion and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Above, the camera looks east along Boyson Road near Boyson Park at 7:24 am CST, December 23. 1.3 second exposure at f/20, ISO 100, 24mm focal length.

7:25 am. Looking west toward Dry Run Creek in Boyson Park. 2.5 second exposure at f/20, ISO 100, 24mm focal length.

7:32 am. 1.6 second exposure at f/20, ISO 100, 24mm focal length.

7:39 am. Looking east from footbridge over Dry Run Creek. Boyson Road is in the background at left. 1 second exposure at f/20, ISO 100, 24mm focal length.

7:41 am. 1/2 second exposure at f/20, ISO 100, 24mm focal length. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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Christmastime Reflections

Light rain--not snow, was falling when these HDR (High Dynamic Range) images of downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa as seen from nearby Cedar Lake were captured early in the morning of Saturday, December 16, 2023. The image above looks southwest at 4:18 am CST. It is a combination of 1.6, 1.3 and 1 second exposures at f/4, ISO 160 and 24mm focal length.

Zoomed-in version (45mm focal length) of the top image, using the same settings, captured at 4:21 am. Air temperature was 42 degrees F, preventing the possibility of a white Christmas to this point. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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Near-Gem of a Geminids

 

The Geminids Meteor Shower, annually one of the year's best, did not disappoint on its peak night of December 13/14, 2023. Unlike most meteor showers which are generated from cometary debris, the Geminids comes from Asteroid 3200. I spent nearly an hour observing and photographing the event from about 2:00 am to 3:00 am December 14 from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The image above, captured at 2:06 am, looks southeast and is a 10 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 500, 35mm focal length.

This image is a composite photograph of five separate images, captured from 2:06 am-2:52 am, and with the same settings as the single image at top. The best meteor of the night unfortunately occurred outside my camera's view--very bright and with a well-defined round head. The night was chilly (22 degrees F, with 88% humidity). Nikon Z6ii camera.

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Starry Night, Few Meteors

With the peak night and clear skies for the annual Leonids Meteor Shower, I was expecting big things. Not so! In the nearly-two hours I was outside for the event, I saw only about 2-3 meteors, all dim and all out of my camera's eye. So instead, I captured areas of the night sky. All of these images were captured from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and are 10 second exposures at f/1/8, ISO 320 and 35mm focal length. The image above was captured at 12:27 am CST on Saturday, November 18, 2023, and looks east. The bright star in the upper right is the 0.37 magnitude Procyon in the constellation Canis Minor.

1:12 am. Looking southeast. Constellation Orion at top right. At middle is the -1.47 magnitude star Sirius in the constellation Canis Major.

1:23 am. Constellation Orion (hidden in a spangle of stars), looking southeast. The star Sirius is at lower left.

1:39 am. Looking southwest. At upper left is the constellation Taurus, right of Taurus is the star cluster Pleiades, and at lower right is the -2.87 magnitude planet Jupiter. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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Lakeside Reflections

Shown above and below are autumn cloud formations reflecting in Lake Atwood near Cary, Illinois on Saturday morning, November 4, 2023. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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Crescent Moon/Venus Conjunction

A waning crescent moon and the planet Venus were close partners in the early morning sky in Iowa on Thursday, November 9, 2023--about one degree apart--creating a striking spectacle to viewers. The image above, looking east, was captured at 3:15 am CST and is a 4 second exposure at f/4, ISO 320, 62mm focal length. The four second exposure enhanced earthshine on the moon in the image. Venus shone at a sparkling -4.28 apparent magnitude. The Nikon Z6ii camera's location was on North Marion Road, just north of County Home Road (seen at background right), just north of Marion, Iowa. Air temperature was 35 degrees F. Many hours earlier in the Eastern Hemisphere, Venus actually occulted with the moon creating a "mini" eclipse.

Moon/Venus closeup. 3:18 am. 1/2 second exposure at f/4, ISO 500, 70mm focal length.

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Contrail Peep Hole

 An aircraft contrail appears bright and contrasty through a large gap in the clouds in these two pics looking east from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Tuesday, October 24, 2023. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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Fall Thunderstorm--With Hail

 

Three storm cells approached the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City corridor area on the evening of Wednesday, October 11, 2023, setting off weather radio alarms with a severe warning. This image looks south-southwest from Alburnett Road in the Bowman Meadows housing development of Marion, Iowa at 5:20 pm. The camera centers on a gap in the clouds which reveals a strong updraft.

5:21 pm. Panoramic view looking southwest at the severe-warned cell that reportedly had potential for "ping-pong ball size" hail. The storm was located about 11.5 miles distant, just east of the town of Ely, in southern Linn County. Nikon Z6ii camera.

5:18 pm Radarscope image, showing the cluster of storms, some tagged with the new "Special Weather Statement" polygons. The blue target icon is my location. Southern Cedar Rapids received pea-size hail from this event.

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Venus and Sun at Dawn

I had learned of an easy trick to achieve true infinity focusing on the Nikon Z6ii camera, which is very useful for dark or night sky captures. Above is my test shot of that process: Start with the camera turned off and in Auto Focus mode. Turn camera on and the camera will automatically focus to infinity. Switch Auto Focus to Manual Focus. Of course, this is not an "end-all" process, and I will do further testing in a future star-spangled night sky scenario. The image above looks east from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 6:33 am CDT on Saturday, September 30, 2023, and is a 1 second exposure at f/8, ISO 100, 28mm focal length.

49 minutes later came the sun. This is a 1/500 second exposure at f/8, ISO 200, 32mm focal length. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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Last Supermoon of the Year

A full moon rises in the eastern sky at 7:26 pm CDT, Thursday, September 28, 2023, as seen from Boyson Road at Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This full moon was the fourth and last "Supermoon" of the year, with the other three occurring on July 3, August 1 and August 30. Since this event occurred in September, it is also known as a "Harvest Moon." A "Supermoon" is defined as a full moon when its orbit is closest to Earth. Image is a 1/2 second exposure at f/8, ISO 200, 70mm focal length. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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A Tornado When You'd Least Expect It

Chances for severe weather in Eastern Iowa during the afternoon/evening hours of Friday, September 22, 2023 were not great (as the Storm Prediction Center graphic above issued at 2:53 pm shows), with a better chance expected the following day. To my surprise, I received a lightning notification for my area just after 5:00 pm CDT. A line of storms that had begun to form in Jasper County in Central Iowa just before 3:00 pm was now located in eastern Benton County, tracking northeast. I was not expecting much from this development, so I took with me only my camera and tripod to capture some possible cloud formations. I opted for Lowe Park in Marion, Iowa for my observation location as the storm progressed. 

Just before 5:00 pm the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning after a spotter reported a "tornado on the ground" near Blairstown in Benton County. (The tornado would later be rated EFU). Radarscope capture. The blue target icon at right is my location.

I arrived at Lowe Park just before 5:30 pm, but after monitoring radar soon opted for a better location to intercept the storm, and that was the area of County Home Road and Interstate 380. Radarscope capture for 5:39 pm. 

Westbound on County Home Road I could see in the distance scores of headlights leaving the Tuma Soccer Complex, and quickly realized parents were leaving en masse with their children to escape the approach of a possible tornado. Radarscope image for 5:43 pm.

Emergency alert occurring at 6:00 pm. Shortly thereafter I arrived at my new spotting location--The BP Mart at County Home Road and Interstate 380 near Toddville, Iowa. 

Dual-pane Radarscope image for 6:15 pm, with reflectivity scan on top and velocity at bottom.

6:21 pm. Looking southwest at the approaching storm from the BP Mart. The storm was tracking to the northeast, which would bring it just west of this location. I was here only with my camera and tripod, as my usual spotting equipment (ham & weather radio, weather station, Go Pro camera, etc.) were still back home. 

6:30 pm. Storm is showing a tornadic structure and an inflow tail cloud (right).

6:36 pm. Similar panoramic view from the BP Mart near Toddville.

6:41 pm. Zoomed in image of the approaching tornado-warned storm. Structure is showing striations and a rotating base. Image looks southwest.

6:47 pm. Looking west at a low rotating base, with a feeder inflow cloud at right.

6:50 pm. Radarscope dual-pane view, with a velocity "hot spot" just east of Palo, Iowa.

6:51 pm. Corresponding photo to the radar image above it. Storm is displaying a collar cloud, with an ominous dark rotating cloud base beneath it. 

6:53 pm. Panorama image of the tornado-warned storm. The storm was located near Palo, only about 5 miles distant.

6:55 pm. Downdraft rain and hail core at center. The storm is beginning to occlude with the arrival of this feature. Strong inflow winds behind me were beginning to shift to my front as the storm transitioned to outflow at this location. 

6:58 pm. Similar panorama image.

7:06 pm. Looking WNW. "Doughnut" RFD gap containing rising scud, as the most intense area of the storm began to pass my location (toward the right).

7:15 pm. Possible funnel cloud looking northwest. As the storm began to pass to my west and north, and with growing darkness setting in, I decided to wrap up spotting operations here and head back east toward home. 

Eastbound back on County Home Road, I noticed (with each lightning flash) a still-very robust and persisting mesocyclone and wall cloud to my northwest. At Alburnett Road I quickly decided to turn left (north), then temporarily stop for some night photos at the Pioneer Marion Research Center. Lightning flashes revealed a low wall cloud, at times appearing to touch the ground. Wall cloud was about 14 miles distant, near the town of Walker in northern Linn County. This image was captured at 7:37 pm and is a 10 second exposure at f/4, ISO 200, 24mm focal length.

7:37 pm. Similar image.

7:39 pm. 15 second exposure at f/4, ISO 125 and 24mm focal length. 

The following day (Saturday, September 23) had a higher risk for severe weather than Friday, but would be a "bust" for the Cedar Rapids metro area. A decided contrast in forecasts and eventual outcomes! Nikon Z6ii camera. 

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Wisconsin Skies

A weekend "getaway" to Alma, Wisconsin along the Great River Road during the recent Labor Day weekend produced the following images. Above, the Dairyland Power Cooperative plant is shown looking southwest along the Mississippi River at 5:44 am CDT on Saturday September 2, 2023. Image is an 8 second exposure at f/7.1, ISO 100, 67mm focal length.

Altocumulus undulatus clouds spread the sky above a former church-turned-private residence in Alma on September 2.

Similar capture from the other side of the structure.

Moon above Lock and Dam #4 along the Mississippi River on Sunday morning, September 3. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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