Cumulus Parade

Contrasts in the heavens and earth are evident here as cumulus clouds dot the sky over an unsown farm field in this view looking northeast from the Boyson Trail about .2-mile south of Boyson Road in Marion, Iowa around 3:02 PM on Sunday, May 2, 2010. This field would be the future site of Bowman Meadows, a new housing development, with construction beginning in 2012.

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Rollin' In

This "mini" storm chase from my home in Cedar Rapids to the Center Point, Iowa exit--a distance of about 11 miles--produced these video frame capture images of a roll cloud approaching from the the northwest as seen northbound on Interstate 380 around 5:37 PM on Friday, June 18, 2010. The top image was located about .2-mile NW of Hagerman Road and about 2 miles south of Toddville, the bottom image was located about .5-mile south of Quail Ridge Road (bridge overpass in the background) and about 3.5 miles south of the Center Point exit (Exit 35). The bright area under the cloud and behind the trees in the bottom image is the flash of lightning. The somewhat rare roll cloud is formed when a thunderstorm's cool outflow races out ahead of the main storm causing warm air to rise only to tumble back down on the backside of the outflow, causing the air to spin horizontally well out ahead of the approaching storm.

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New Weather Station

This Davis Instruments Vantage Vue 

rooftop weather station replaces the 

former Oregon Scientific WMR968 

station that was damaged by a falling

tree limb during a strong straight-line

storm on June 29. This wireless station 

was installed Saturday morning, 

July 21, 2012. All of the various data 

components are encapsulated in one 

Integrated Sensor Suite (ISS) shell. The

arm of the previous station that held the 

wind vane and anemometer was broken

off, but temperature, dew point, humidity, 

barometric pressure and time & date 

continue to function.

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Fifi Flyover

"I would make a terrible combat photographer" my dad would like to say to me as "Fifi," this Commemorative Air Force (CAF) B-29 Super Fortress bomber--the only airworthy one of its kind in the world--made two quick passes near my home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Friday evening, July 20, 2012. Hearing the droning engines, I raced outside with my camera, and in my fumbling haste and excitement failed to focus or even zoom properly on the aircraft as it made its fleeting appearance aloft. The inset shows "Fifi" at 5:15 PM on it first pass, heading east; and the main image at 5:17 PM as it was flying south. The flights were part of a two-day stay at the Eastern Iowa Airport by the aircraft. The B-29 served the United States Army Air Corps during World War II from 1943-1945, and then again during the first stages of the Korean War in 1950 in an emergency capacity, even though by then it was vulnerable to defensive attack.

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Archer Drive Sunset

The sun drops toward the western horizon as seen from Archer Drive in the new Bowman Meadows housing development in Marion, Iowa around 8:29 PM, Wednesday, July 18, 2012. Sunset was at 8:38 PM. Cirrostratus clouds enhance the sky color.

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Catching Some Rays

This cumulus tower, spiking around 50,000 feet, was still reflecting sunlight some 12 minutes after sunset as seen in the east sky around 8:50 PM, Wednesday, July 18, 2012. Camera location was at Archer Drive in the new Bowman Meadows housing development in Marion, Iowa, with the tower located about 50 miles away, close to the town of Delmar near the border of Jackson and Clinton counties. The billowing cloud proved to be a teaser however, refusing to drop much needed rain here. Where rain did fall was in the extreme northeast part of the state--nearly an inch in some places. My home thermometer showed a peak temperature of 100.2 degrees F at 2:48 PM on this day. Iowa City recorded an official temp of 104 degrees! The bottom image shows the Quad Cities National Weather Service radar at 8:50 PM CDT.

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Reflections Of A Celestial Event

Bright enough to stand out in the sky above the highly-illuminated Quaker Oats cereal mill in Cedar Rapids, Iowa--the trio of Jupiter, the Moon and Venus were a visual treat at almost any location you could choose during the early morning hours of Sunday, July 15, 2012. The still waters of the Cedar River reflected not only the light of Quaker Oats but also the Moon (top image). In the bottom image, taken near a railroad bridge that survived the 2008 flood, the planet Venus can be seen just above and touching the grain elevator at left, with the Moon and Jupiter above it. Venus shone at magnitude -4.47; Jupiter, -2.09. The top image, shot at 3:47 AM, is a three-second exposure at f/11, ISO 1000 and 32mm focal length. The bottom image was shot at 3:58 AM and is a six-second exposure at f/16, ISO 400 and 18mm focal length.

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