Not So Super Supermoon

Heavy cloud cover at moonrise in the Cedar Rapids/Marion area of Iowa (7:41 pm) completely prevented any observation or photo capture of the "supermoon" on the evening of Saturday, August 29, 2015. All hopes of a really fat, golden moon hanging on the horizon of a rolling farm field were then doomed. Even the possibility of catching it in "reverse" at moonset the next morning never happened as the land was shrouded in fog. The above image was all that was possible for me as the moon peeked in and out of cloud gaps high above the landscape at 8:53 pm CDT Saturday evening. The pic is a combined image with the clouds shot as a 1.3-second exposure at f/5.6, 1600 ISO and 200mm focal length, and the moon a 1/400-second exposure at f/8, 3200 ISO and 200mm focal length. Better luck next supermoon, which occurs here on September 27. A lunar eclipse occurs with this one, so we will have a "super-blood moon." Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

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Wild Goose Chase?

Tornado Watch 494 was issued for eastern Iowa and western Illinois by the SPC at 1:30 pm CDT on Tuesday, August 18, 2015. A report of a tornado was made from near Stanwood, Iowa, in northern Cedar County around 3:15 pm, just as I was arriving home in Cedar Rapids from work. At this time the severe weather was already well east and pushing farther east as I scrambled to catch it. Some 20 miles away, the storm suddenly weakened below severe levels. The Nikon D5000 DSLR camera image above shows a line of strong--but no longer severe--storms in western Jackson County as seen from state highway 64 in southeast Jones County at 4:24 pm CDT.

My attention was quickly given to a new severe storm warning emanating from my weather radio, this one in Scott County to the south (see above Radarscope image). Thoughts here were the opportunity to salvage the venture. I drove east to Maquoketa, then south on US Highway 61, in an apparent intercept path.

About 15 minutes later this storm too detensified below severe levels and the chase was done. Yes, but not without drama--just north of Eldridge, Iowa on Highway 61 around 5:15 pm, the heavens opened and unleashed a torrent of rain (Go Pro Hero video frame capture above). At one point I could barely see where I was driving and braced for that dreaded crash from behind. Luckily it never came. Many cars, as seen in the image above, pulled over to the side of the road, but this was only slightly safer, or maybe not AS safe? This image was captured when the rain had actually slightly let up. The chase produced nothing significant in the 170 miles driven. Photos weren't even that great because the gray and grayer sky lacked much contrast. Wet wild goose chase!

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Two Bright Ones

Ya snooze ya lose. The early morning hours of Wednesday, August 12, 2015 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa provided crisp, clear, weather conditions for the Perseids meteor shower, one day ahead of its peak. And indeed I went outside for a look and witnessed several bright meteors in the short time I was out there. Weather forecasts for the following few days called for the same, so I opted to photograph the shower during its "official" peak the following night. As I staggered outside after 3:15 am on Thursday, August 13, a high veil of cirrus clouds covered all but the brightest stars. Momentary letups in the cloud cover allowed for two of the only three meteor streaks I saw to be captured by my camera. The farthest left meteor in the image above was shot at 3:59 am (and combined with the image containing the other meteor), photographed at 4:04 am. The meteor's point of origin--the radiant--emanated from the namesake constellation Perseus, located out of the picture above. At right is the constellation Auriga. Image looks northeast from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids. It is a 30-second exposure at f/3.5, 500 ISO and 18mm focal length. Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

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Fire And Rain

This rural Shueyville, Iowa bonfire, set ablaze for entertainment purposes for a large group of spectators, was timely. When the majority of the large blaze--whose smoke rose high into the evening sky--finally wound down, sprinkles then a steady rain began to fall which lasted all night and into the next morning. Raindrops in the nearby pond can be seen in the top image, captured at 8:52 pm CDT, Saturday, August 8, 2015. It is a one second exposure at f/13, 200 ISO and 38mm focal length. The middle image, shot at 8:53 pm, is a 6-second exposure at f/13, 200 ISO and 18mm focal length. Bottom image, photographed at 8:57 pm, is a one second exposure at f/8, 2000 ISO and 18mm focal length. Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

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Tassels In The Sky

Passing storms clouds and clouds seen in the distance are offered in these images using a corn field as foreground piece. All three photos look east from Yucca Avenue, less than 2 miles east of Ainsworth, Iowa on the evening of Tuesday, July 28, 2015. The top image, captured at 7:18 pm CDT, includes the moon--three days before it reached its "Blue Moon" status. The middle image is dominated by a large rain shaft and was photographed at 7:25 pm. The bottom image, shot at 7:30 pm, frames a distant cumulus tower. Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

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Up, Up and Away

Seen here from Fay Clark Park in Hiawatha, Iowa, cumulus towers some 50 miles distant were rising into the fading sunlight on Sunday, August 2, 2015. Images look south and southeast. In the top image (8:02 pm CDT), the towers are nearly vertical. In the middle image (8:06 pm) they begin to interact with stronger winds aloft. Some of the structures are bent nearly horizontally in the bottom image (8:14 pm). Severe weather was occurring behind the towers, over 100 miles away near the Iowa/Missouri border. Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

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Same Cell, Three Different Locations

This isolated storm cell, with its classic cumulonimbus characteristic, billowed upwards of 45,000 feet in south-central Poweshiek County Iowa on the evening of Sunday, August 2, 2015. Captured for this posting are images of the cell from three different locations. The image above was shot from Archer Drive and Bowhunter Drive in Marion, Iowa around 7:44 pm CDT. The cell was about 57 miles to the southwest.

 Location here was about 3.7 miles to the west of the top image, on Boyson Road over Interstate 380 in Hiawatha. Time was 7:55 pm.

Four minutes later and one mile farther west, captured from Fay Clark Park in Hiawatha. Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

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