Mercury Moments

The planet Mercury, usually an elusive target for observers because of close proximity to the sun in our skies, was in its prime as seen in these images from Friday, February 15, 2013 (top) and Saturday, February 16, 2013 (bottom). The top image shows Mercury at 6:18 PM CST, as seen from near the Christ Community United Methodist Church in Marion, Iowa. The image looks west toward Cedar Rapids. In this image, air temperature was 23 degrees F, shown at -0.56 magnitude and was 9 degrees above the horizon. In the bottom image Mercury is shown above tree branches as seen from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids at 6:30 PM. The planet, shining at -0.44 magnitude, is 7 degrees above the horizon. Air temperature at this time was 21 degrees. This evening found Mercury at its greatest elongation from the sun (18 degrees).

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Sliver In The Sun Glow

A waxing crescent moon hangs high
over the western horizon as seen from
the grounds at Echo Hill Presbyterian 
Church near Marion, Iowa on Tuesday,
February 12, 2013. Time was 5:56 PM,
20 minutes after sunset.

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Gander Landing

I was pressed for time and was trying to photograph the planet Mercury, still hidden in the Sun's glare at this moment. While waiting for the planet to materialize, a flock of Canada Geese suddenly flew left-to-right along the horizon, then wheeled toward me, then to the left, flying through my camera's field of view. The flock would eventually land in the background at center. This image was captured from the parking lot at Echo Hill Presbyterian Church near Marion, Iowa around 5:43 PM, Tuesday, February 12, 2013. I had to depart a little over ten minutes later, and never saw Mercury from this position. The flight of geese, however, made up for the disappointment!

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Tornado Panorama

The top group of images shows the setup for the day, with the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) outlook for 3:00 PM CDT on April, 9, 2011 (left) and satellite images of the supercell development in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa later that afternoon. The bottom image is panoramic shot created by stitching together three separate photos and shows an EF3 tornado (left center) as it was approaching the Western Iowa town of Mapleton. Note the inflow tail cloud at right feeding into the storm. Time and date were 7:21 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. This image looks north and the twister was about 7 miles distant. We were parked alongside Sumac Avenue, about .25-mile north of County Highway E34 and about .75-mile west of State Highway 141. In minutes we proceeded north for about 2.5 miles for another look from along the roadside. The tornado roared through Mapleton, damaging about 60% of the town. The two left images used to create this image were shot with a focal length of 18mm, the right image at 24mm focal length. This tornado was the second of eight confirmed touchdowns in Western Iowa on this night.

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Low Plume

A steam plume from the Duane Arnold Energy Center (right center) is flattened horizontally by west winds of 3 mph at 5:48 PM on Saturday, February 2, 2013. Air temperature was 3 degrees F. This view looks northwest from the parking lot at Noelridge Christian Church. The D.A.E.C. is about 7.7 miles distant.

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Frigid Steam

A steam plume from the Duane Arnold Energy Center was blown several miles over the ground powered by WNW winds gusting to 33 mph on Thursday afternoon and evening, January 31, 2013. In the top image, shot at 4:42 PM, the dark colored plume drifts right-to-left across a sundog in 3 degree F temperatures. The bottom image, shot a minute later, shows the plume's origin at far right. Both images were taken from near the grounds of the Christ Community United Methodist Church in Marion, Iowa. I did not tarry outdoors capturing these images as -20 degree F wind chills reduced my face and fingers to numbness in just minutes!

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Fickle Iowa Winter Weather

Compare this image with the image from my previous day's posting. Same general view but what an extreme contrast in weather conditions! A strong winter storm was in full force when this image was captured around 6:45 AM, Wednesday, January 30, 2013. Temperature was 28 degrees F with NW wind speeds gusting to 34 mph. When it was all over on Wednesday afternoon, 7 inches of snow had fallen at this location. Contrast that with the previous day's image shot about 27 hours earlier, when a thunderstorm was underway in balmy 55-degree F temperatures.

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