Snow Squall Blow Hard

The National Weather Service (NWS), in this case via an AccuWeather email notification (above), posted a Blizzard Warning at 11:24 am until midnight CST, January 21-22, 2026 for five Eastern Iowa counties. Light but steady snow then began to fall around 2:00 pm over the Cedar Rapids metro area, but with little or no wind. But by about 4:50 pm the snowfall had stopped, and small parts of the sky were actually clear.

I began to think the NWS had "dropped the ball," not fully paying attention to a small but intense winter storm cell that had formed in Wright and Hamilton counties in north-central Iowa and was steadily tracking southeast toward Cedar Rapids (IEM archived radar map images above).

At around 5:15 pm I finally became aware of the storm cell's imminent approach and decided to head to one of my favorite spotting locations, the grounds at Noelridge Christian Church on C Avenue NE, north of Boyson Road to get some possible good snow and wind captures. This somewhat tranquil image, captured at 5:28 pm, looks northeast from the parking lot. It is a 1/2000 second exposure at f/4, ISO 2000, 24mm focal length.

5:29 pm. The tranquility ended less than a minute later as the above image attests. The winter storm cell, now a full-blown snow squall, had arrived with ferocity, packing over 50 mph winds, and creating total white-out conditions. Dark pieces of small flying debris can be seen in the foreground. 1/160 second exposure at f/4, ISO 1250, 24mm focal length.

5:29 pm. Similar shot, seconds later. Same camera settings. I was firing off shots at will as the winds blasted over me! The temperature at this time was not bad--31 degrees F.

5:30 pm. Similar shot with my spotting vehicle seen at lower left. The worst of the squall was now quickly ebbing, as fast as it had began. 

5:32 pm Radarscope image of the storm cell (yellow) as it was passing through the Cedar Rapids area.

5:35 pm. The fury of the storm had now lessened at this location, but you could still see wind-driven channels of snow flowing through the parking lot. 1/40 second exposure at f/4, ISO 1250, 24mm focal length. Nikon Z6ii camera. (As the storm pushed southeast into far eastern Iowa and western Illinois, it actually intensified enough to set off my weather radio!)