Charged Updraft

A vigorous updraft (striations) at the rear of an isolated storm cell was a highly charged source on the night of Tuesday, July 9, 2013 as seen from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 28 and 38 second exposures captured numerous lightning discharges emanating from this area. The exposures were shot at f/11, 500 ISO and 34mm focal length. These images, captured around 10:44 PM, look west. At lower right is part of Bowman Woods Elementary School.

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Illumination Source

These were actually bonus photos. I was traveling north of Alburnett Road about three miles north of Marion, Iowa on Monday, July 9, 2013 to get my camera closer to a towering cumulonimbus cloud that was high enough to be brilliantly illuminated by the setting sun while all else was in fading light. The source of that illumination turned out to be spectacular as well. The top image shows the setting sun at 8:29 PM, about 1.7-mile south of County Home Road. The bottom image shows the scene from two miles further north at 8:34 PM from the Pioneer Marion Research Center. The cumulonimbus cloud was in the northeast sky. Sunset was at 8:43 PM.

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Lighting Up At Night

Not particularly menacing 18 minutes after sunset, an isolated storm cell is shown in the northwest sky (top image) at 9:01 PM, Tuesday, July 9, 2013 as seen from Edgewood Road NW in Cedar Rapids, Iowa just south of Ellis Road. In the foreground is the Cedar Rapids Community School District "bus barn." The middle image shows a decidedly different appearance after dark. Lightning illuminates the upper part of the cloud while a vigorous updraft creates a spiral formation below. This image looks west from Bowman Woods Park at 10:28 PM and is a 8-second exposure at f/6.3, 200 ISO and 24mm focal length. Cloud-to-cloud lightning was frequent as the cell moved in a southeasterly direction (see radar screen capture in the bottom image).

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Stars 'n' Storms

If you would have nodded off for the night on Tuesday, July 9, 2013 you might have missed this spectacle. A very isolated storm cell (shown in a radar screen capture at bottom) moved from near the Waterloo, Iowa area toward Cedar Rapids creating a prodigious lightning show after dark but producing no rain or wind. Stars surrounded this "oasis" of storm. Also striking was a vigorous updraft structure (seen at left in the top image and at center in the middle image) resembling a "layered cake" or "flying saucer." Lightning was frequent from this area. The two top images face west from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids. They were captured at 10:32 PM and 10:41 PM respectively. The top photo was exposed 13 seconds at  f/9, 500 ISO and 18mm focal length. The middle photo 22 seconds at f/11, ISO 500 and 32mm focal length. With only faintly audible thunder, this is what is commonly (but erroneously) known as "heat lightning." Lastly, while I was engaging the storm, the mosquitoes were engaging ME!

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Not All Warm And Fuzzy

Looking benignly "fluffy" from 35 miles away, the storm that was manufacturing these clouds was anything but. The updraft was lifting the clouds to an altitude of 50,000-55,000 feet. Beneath the storm cell in northern Delaware County, Iowa were flash flood warnings and even a small funnel cloud sighted near the town of Manchester. The top two images--facing northeast from the Pioneer Marion Research Center--shows the cumulonimbus reflecting the fading sunlight around 8:32 PM, Monday, July 8, 2013. Sunset was at 8:43 PM. The camera's position was along North Alburnett Road, about .3-mile north of County Home Road intersection and about three miles north of Marion, Iowa. The bottom image shows the position of the camera in relation to a radar screen capture of the moment.

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Cool Night For Fireworks

The weather was coolin', the fireworks were poppin' and the mosquitoes were buzzin'. These two images are a combination of several separate images. The top image is a combination of 6 exposures, using a focal length of 55mm. The exposures were shot from 9:12-9:23 PM, Thursday, July 4, 2013. The image looks west toward Cedar Rapids, Iowa from the grounds at Christ Community United Methodist Church in neighboring Marion. The bottom image is a combination of 9 exposures, each shot from 5-10 seconds at f/10, 200 ISO and 18mm focal length. It looks east toward Alburnett Road from the same position as the top image. The 9 images were shot from 9:30-9:36 PM. Temperature during this time was a very cool 67 degrees F. At upper right in the top image is the -3.91 magnitude planet Venus.

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High Wapsi

The Wapsipinicon River is shown in flood stage as seen from the Highway 13 bridge at Central City, Iowa around 7:15 PM on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Continual heavy rains contributed to the flooding, which prompted fears of road closings. In the background at right is the Main Street bridge. A roller dam, located between this vantage point and the distant bridge is entirely under water and not visible. This image looks east toward town.

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