Where Did This Come From?

My attention was squarely on the line of severe storms riding east along the Minnesota/Iowa state border around 6:30 pm CDT on Thursday, August 18, 2016. My intent was to capture some potential distant cloud structure by driving north on Highway 13 into northeast Iowa. Leaving Marion, Iowa, two small cells began to appear to my right (east), located along the Mississippi River just southeast of Bellevue, Iowa. As I continued my drive north to intercept the northern storms, the two twin cells grew. I thought, "Oh cool, that's a nice little scene..." The above image looks east at 6:49 pm on the big bend section of Highway 13 about 1 mile east of the town of Coggon in northern Linn County.

Stopping at one of my favorite spotting locations on 255th Street (D34) at Highway 13, about 4 miles south of Manchester in Delaware County, the two cells to the east had merged into one. The above image looks that direction at 7:15 pm, during the time the storm had become severe-warned. Note the strong "ice cream dollop" overshooting top at center, indicating its very strong updraft. The storm was now located about 68 miles distant, near the Elizabeth, Illinois area just east of the Mississippi River.

Briefly pulling up shop and driving east across Highway 13, I stopped here at a railroad crossing located on 255th Street about .7-mile east of the highway. Time was 7:21 pm. The overshooting top is partially obscured by a wisp of anvil cloud.

Back to my former spotting position. 7:27 pm. The mature storm's anvil has spread some 25 miles across. Though the line of (weak) storms--my original target--were at this moment advancing from the northwest, this storm cell stole the evening's show. What had been perceived by me as a superficial little pop-up cell to the east had become the main event! Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Radar screen capture of 6:50 pm (top panel) and again at 7:30 pm, showing the state of the eastern storm cell and my spotting position (target icon at left) in relation to it.

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Morning Mammatus

Red sky at morning usually spells rain, and indeed it did happen a little later in Cedar Rapids, Marion and Hiawatha, Iowa on Thursday, August 11, 2016. This fiery red sky also contained numerous small mammatus, enhancing the view. The above image looks northwest at 6:02 am CDT from Brentwood Drive at Boyson Road NE in Cedar Rapids, just west of the Marion city limits.

Located at Progress Drive in Hiawatha, Iowa about ten minutes later. Image looks north.

Same moment but with a panoramic view. In the background at left is the AirFX Trampoline Park building in Hiawatha. iPhone 6 plus camera.

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Meteoric Decline

The wee hours of the morning on Friday, August 12, 2016 were prime time for this year's viewing of the annual Perseids meteor shower--that is, if the sky was clear. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, it wasn't. Also no go 24 hours later. I tried my luck in capturing any residuals from my back deck two days later, early in the morning on Sunday, August 14 as the sky was finally clear. I used my trusty Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. My camera was set up to take continuous 20-second exposures at f/2.8, 500 ISO and 11mm focal length and was aimed at the constellation Perseus. I stopped at 125 exposures, which took place from 2:11-2:53 am CDT. Hope was that during this automatic capturing of images some bright meteors would register. As it turned out I did see three medium-bright meteors during this time, but only one faintly registered. Que sera, sera! All the effort wasn't for naught though, as I stacked all 125 images in StarStaX 2 to produce the star trails image seen above. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Bringing The Curtain Down On The Day's Chase

The final act of severe weather for Eastern Iowa on Thursday, August 4, 2016, was about to roll over my position at Oliver Court in Marion, Iowa. The gust front stretched at this moment from just east of Des Moines to just north of Cedar Rapids. In these three images the leading edge of a shelf cloud plows methodically onward with Bowman Meadows housing development in the foreground. Image capture above was 7:49 pm CDT, looking just a little south of west.

The defined ragged appearance of the shelf cloud has now become more evident a minute later, despite the darkening, low-contrast conditions experienced by my camera. Focusing on the approach of the storm was achieved by an auto-focus lock on the brighter sky in the opposite direction, then switching to manual focus. The ragged appearance of the shelf cloud was created by warm, moist air condensing from its interaction with the rain-chilled (downdraft) air spreading behind it.

Another capture from 7:50 pm. To be on the safe side, I took these shots inside from the open window of my vehicle. As the gust front quickly passed overhead, I waited out drenching rain, lightning and high winds for about another half hour. Winds speeds here, in my estimation, never exceeded 50 mph. Darkness now and the end of my day's chase! This storm system would produce a tornado-warned area just west of Davenport as it moved east. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Last Wave Of Storms Coming In

The funnel had disappeared minutes ago, but the heavy moisture-laden air it spawned from was creating bizarre cloud formations on the leading edge of an approaching line of severe storms on the evening of August 4, 2016. The hand-like formation seen above looking north at Oliver Court in Marion, Iowa at 7:39 pm CDT is an example of that. 

And then a shelf cloud from the anticipated gust front finally showed itself. Above, the approaching ominous-looking shelf cloud hangs low on the western horizon as seen from Oliver Court at 7:48 pm. In its path are homes in the Bowman Meadows housing development.

Stretching from the northwest (left) to the northeast sky is this panoramic view of the shelf cloud at 7:48 pm. Air and dew temperatures were identical at 72 degrees, humidity was at 100%. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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More Funnel Pics From August 4

The funnel on Thursday, August 4, 2016 continued to widen--and would eventually drop about three-quarters of the way to the ground. I began to ponder my escape route from my spotting position on Oliver Court in Marion, Iowa if that should become necessary. The image above shows the funnel with an apparent smaller companion at 7:33 pm CDT.

Less than a minute later the funnel (and its companion) began to decay and orient itself more horizontally.

7:35 pm. Remnants of the funnel stretch horizontally across the southeast sky while the line of severe storms continued their eastward advance some 25 miles to the west. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Best Part Of The Chase Knocked On My Back Door

A little fatigued from my chase up to around 7:00 pm CDT on Thursday, August 4, 2016 , I decided to stop at home briefly and then set up and wait close by for another line of severe storms approaching from the west. My spotting choice was Oliver Court in the Bowman Meadows housing development in Marion, Iowa, just off Boyson Road and about .15-mile west of Alburnett Road. Oliver Court is currently an open cul-de-sac on a slight rise of ground with a good view of the west sky and is only .65-mile from home. My attention was fully on waiting for the line of storms to the west, but like any smart spotter knows one should check out the full 360 degrees. Good thing too. Overhead in the southeast sky around 7:30 pm, I observed a curious group of miniature dark "puffs" of cumulus form in a vertical chain, then coalesce into a tube of air and begin to drop. The above image, captured at 7:32 pm, shows the funnel forming about 2 miles distant.

The above and below image show the funnel quickly developing less than a minute later. My vehicle is shown in the foreground for scale. It seemed to me that the funnel and the cloud it emanated from was "swimming upstream" of the approaching line of severe storms in the west. Strangely, no reports were made of this funnel and apparently no notice was made of it, but it was the highlight of the day's chase and occurred virtually in my own back yard! Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Below are two radar screen images corresponding to 7:35 pm. In the first, note the line of severe storms to the west and the white circled area indicating the area where the funnel emanated from. The target icon shows my position.

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