It Made Me Leap Out of Bed!

 

Friday, July 31, 2026 in Eastern Iowa had been a mixture of rain and clouds, with nothing significant forecasted as far as severe weather was concerned. I was not concerned that evening as I relaxed at my home in Cedar Rapids watching TV. Around 6:50 pm my bedside weather radio went off. What could this be, I wondered -- amber alert? flash flood watch? No, a tornado warning, and for southeastern Linn County no less! I leaped out of bed and went outside to check the southeastern sky, which had a turbulent appearance. Without any other spotting frills I grabbed my camera and with only a quarter tank of gas negotiated an advantageous route that would take me quickly to that area before the tornado warning was lifted. The image above is from 7:04 pm CDT and looks toward the tornado warned area (right) while I was eastbound on County Home Road, west of Highway 13 and north of Marion, Iowa.

As is common this time of year, summer spin up tornado warnings are fleeting. And such was the case here. By 7:10 the warning was lifted. Clouds were still amazing though. I found a spotting location on Hindman Road at County Home Road northeast of Marion. The image above is from that location at 7:11 pm and looks northeast.

7:18 pm Radarscope capture. My location is the blue target icon. The storm cell was tracking to the northeast, so I remained where I was to allow it to slide by me to the east. A more intense area of the storm is shown near Bertram, Iowa.

7:19 pm. Partially sunlit turbulent clouds behind a substation looking southeast.

7:22 pm. Similar view looking east.

7:25 pm. Looking west at sunbeams peeking through a gap in the clouds.

7:28 pm. Turbulent and ominous looking clouds to the south.

7:30 pm. Looking east at low-base clouds moving from right-to-left (northeast). Significant rain on July 31 and August 1 provided some welcome relief to a couple of weeks of dry conditions in the area. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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