Electrifying Finish To Labor Day Weekend

Cloud-to-ground and cloud-to-cloud lightning appears to emanate from the same point a mile or more behind a building unit of the Colton Circle Condominums in Cedar Rapids, Iowa just before 9:00 PM, Monday, September 6, 2010. The condos are located near the intersection of Boyson Road and C Avenue NE in Cedar Rapids. The Labor Day thunderstorm was approaching head-on from the perspective of the camera and immediately after this capture I needed to gather my gear quickly and head for my car as it began to rain. A strong line of storms began to fire up around the Atlantic area in southwest Iowa around 6:00 PM and moved swiftly northeast around 55 mph, reaching this location about three hours later. This image is a 15-second exposure at f/10 with an ISO rating of 200.

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Sunset At ADM

The rays from the setting sun are seen behind clouds near the Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) Company plant in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 7:40 PM on Saturday, August 21, 2010. This view looks west along Interstate 380 just south of the US Highway 30 interchange. ADM is a major food processing and wet corn milling business in Cedar Rapids.

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Edge Of The Storm

Shown here is the northern edge of a storm system that prompted a tornado warning in Lone Tree, Iowa--about 40 miles to the southeast of this location--about 4:15 PM on June 23, 2010. This scene looks east from the parking lot at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids. In this area of Cedar Rapids the edge of the strong storm looked dark and ominous but skirted just south and caused no damage.

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Summer Shueyville Night Sky

This wide-open night sky image in rural Shueyville, Iowa was loaded with stars on the clear night of Saturday, August 21, 2010. The capture was a 30-second exposure taken at f/4.0 with an ISO rating of 400. Stars making up the constellation Scorpius (the scorpion) are seen just above the tree line at center. The brightest of these stars is the red giant Antares, some 300 times larger than our sun. According to one ancient legend, Scorpius stung the legendary hunter Orion, killing him, making Orion spend eternity fleeing Scorpius in the sky. Thus, when Scorpius rises in the east, Orion sets in the west. This image looks south at 9:35 PM and also includes stars of the constellation Ophiuchus (serpent bearer) at top center.

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Clouds Out, Venus In

The planet Venus (center) shines in the southwest sky after most of the clouds that had earlier brought rain and lightning to the area moved out. The sky still glows from the sun which set an hour earlier. This image was captured from the grounds of Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 8:25 PM, September 2, 2010. Venus, with its highly reflective atmosphere and close proximity to Earth make it the third brightest object in our skies. It has been said it can even cast shadows from your hand onto white paper during very dark nights. As seen from Earth, the planet is actually at its brightest in its crescent phase.

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A Little Bit Of Everything This Evening

A "mock sun" reflects from the underside of a brilliantly illuminated shelf of clouds as weather clears to the west at 7:50 PM on Thursday, September 2, 2010. The real sun had already dropped below the horizon. This scene was captured from the grounds of Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The evening saw a mixed-bag of weather observation: fast moving low-level clouds, rain, lightning, rainbows, blazing sunsets and finally a clear western sky that revealed a brightly shining planet Venus.

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Filaments From Heaven

An intense geomagnetic storm produced this scene around 7:30 PM on November 5, 2001 as the resulting aurora borealis display got going. The surreal sky from the northern lights appeared as though tendrils of light from heaven were drifting downward upon the ground from all directions. The geomagnetic storm lit up skies in the United States as far south as California, Texas and Florida. This view looks northwest from Inwood Court NE in the Northbrook II housing development in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The bright star at center is Vega, part of the constellation Lyra.

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