Chilly Celestial Viewing

At 21 degrees F and with a wind chill of 7 degrees F, watching (or photographing) the conjunction of the moon, Mars and Venus on the evening of Wednesday, February 1, 2017 was a chilly prospect. Above, from top-to-bottom in line are the moon (apparent magnitude of -11.39), the planet Mars (1.12 magnitude), and the planet Venus (-4.56 magnitude). The moon was 41 degrees above the horizon, while Venus was 30 degrees. The skies here had just cleared to make the photo opportunity available. Image looks southwest from the grounds at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 6:22 pm CST, and is a 15-second exposure at f/9, 250 ISO and 18mm focal length. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Taking A Dim View Of The Countryside

Dense fog on the evening of Friday, January 20, 2017, provided an ideal, but not at all safe weather photography opportunity. The illuminated grain elevator images seen above were captured at 8:45 pm CST, and look west from Radio Road northeast of Marion, Iowa, about .9-mile east of Highway 13. Besides visibility being reduced to less than a quarter-mile, the dirt/gravel road (seen at lower left) was becoming a sticky, muddy mess from light falling rain, and made driving a challenge. I had to back up (with flashers on) past the grain elevators into a driveway to turn around and return home. Weather conditions at this moment were: Temperature: 37 degrees F, dew point: 37 degrees, humidity 100%, wind direction: east, wind speed: 7 mph, visibility: less than a quarter mile, vertical visibility: 100 feet. Images are 8 second exposures at f/9, ISO 250. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Front Before The Freeze

A distinct line of dark altocumulus clouds form a front in the south and west sky as seen in this panoramic image captured from the grounds at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 11:20 am on Sunday, January 15, 2017. The line was in advance of a large area of freezing rain which covered much of the Midwest. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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New Mexico Wall Cloud

Another image from my May 16, 2016 storm chase in NE New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. This image shows a low-based wall cloud organizing under a growing supercell as seen from Highway 406 at A081 (Seneca Road, background) in northeast New Mexico. Camera looks ENE at 3:03 pm MDT. The storm is moving away and to the right in the image, toward the nearby panhandle of Oklahoma. A tornado would form from this cell about a half-hour later, near the town of Felt, located about 18.7 miles to the southeast. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Rave Sky Reviews

Being at work since 6:30 am on Friday, December 30, 2016, many co-workers arriving later raved about the brilliant sky they experienced on their way to work. This finally prompted me to take a look and I beheld this beautiful mackerel (altocumulus) sky. A rising sun at 7:30 am CST created the fiery red effect over the blue background, as seen from Progress Drive in Hiawatha, Iowa. A mackerel sky gets its name from its undulating, rippling pattern, similar to fish scales and is caused by high-altitude atmospheric waves. iPhone 6-Plus camera.

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Last Supermoon of 2016

The last "Supermoon" of 2016 sets in the west sky behind the AirFX sports facility in Hiawatha, Iowa at 6:17 am CST on Tuesday, December 13, 2016. The rising plume of steam seen behind and to the right of the facility is emanating from the Duane Arnold Energy Center near Palo. Air temperature was a frigid 3 degrees F. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Efex Effects

These four posted images were created from Silver Efex Pro 2, part of the Nik Collection plug-in. The images were captured on Sunday afternoon, December 4, 2016 from Boyson Park in Marion, Iowa, near the Cedar Rapids border. Snow was still falling at this time and would accumulate to a depth of four inches. Temperature was 32 degrees F, and the wet snow stuck to branches, creating beautiful winter photo opportunities. The bottom image is a panorama. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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