Colorful Gaps In May 15 Storm

Gaps in severe weather clouds allowed brief and vivid color glimpses in Eastern Iowa on the evening of Monday, May 15, 2017. Above, a view looking northwest from Noelridge Park in Cedar Rapids at 8:05 pm CDT, shows the sun peaking out of clouds whose severe-warned center was located about 60 miles to the northeast (right), about 10 miles northwest of Dubuque.

A zoomed-in view of the same area less than five minutes later.

8:25 pm, looking northwest over Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids. The most intense part of the severe storm was now located just north of Dubuque, about 65 miles distant.

A vertically-oriented version of the same image.

A minute later at a nearby vantage point. Some of the storm's striated lower clouds (that extended well out of the image to the right ) can be seen at right. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Gonna Get Wet

These GoProHero4 video frame captures from Wednesday, May 17, 2017 in Benton County Iowa show a fast approaching gust front and blasting wind and rain. The time sequence was from about 5:50-5:53 pm CDT. The images look southwest from the grounds of the Youngville Cafe on US Highway 30, about 3.6 miles southwest of the town of Newhall. Pea-size hail and an estimated 60-70 mph straight line winds accompanied the storm, whose rain shafts resembled a wedge tornado.

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May 17 Iowa Severe Weather Threat

An Enhanced Risk severe weather potential for the state of Iowa was posted by the SPC on Wednesday, May 17, 2017. Tornado Watch 231 (above, left) was issued for the west two-thirds of Iowa at 12:05 pm CDT; then Tornado Watch 233 for NE Iowa (above, right) at 3:10 pm. I was on the road less than a half-hour later and selected a severe cell moving south-to-north in Johnson County (below).

My position for the photo--seen below at 4:30 pm--is shown in the radar image above at upper right. The lighter area of the storm cell in the image below is in the area of the arrow shown above.

The severe cell passed to my west (above) as I found a spotting position at 4:45 pm. My location was on 540th Street SW, a half-mile west of Observatory Avenue, and about 1.5 miles southwest of Hills, Iowa. The cell, which appeared to sport a funnel-like appendage, was about 10 miles distant.

When the Johnson County cell weakened below severe limits, I decided to head back north on US Highway 218/Interstate 380 to get into position to intercept a new line of severe storms to the west in Iowa County before 5:00 pm. This line had a NNE track. I then decided to travel west on US Highway 30, and as the storms neared, selected the driveway at the Youngville Cafe along Highway 30 in Benton County. The historic cafe is located just east of 24th Avenue, and about 3.6 miles southwest of the town of Newhall. The above image looks south at the approaching storm from behind the cafe at 5:48 pm. The fast moving storm was about 10 miles distant at this moment.

This panoramic image in the same location, but closer to the highway, distorts the actual much wider shelf cloud, giving it a wedge tornado-like appearance. At this moment--5:50 pm--the storm had neared to only 5 miles away. Less than ten minutes later, the storm blew over me, with winds estimated briefly at 60-70 mph. Pea-size hail and blinding rain followed. Returning home, I noticed a couple of utility poles askew and intermittent areas of small debris on the road. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

The radar image above corresponds to the panoramic image above it. The target symbol is my position, with the black arrow pointing toward the storm. White arrows indicate storm movement.

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Big Serving Of Altocumulus

Much of the sky was taken up here by large formations of altocumulus clouds during the morning hours of Sunday, May 7, 2017. This panoramic image looks west at 10:56 am CDT from the grounds at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. These cloud types typically exist from 6,500-20,000 feet above the ground. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Cirrus Over Neal Smith Refuge

Cirrus fibratus lace the northern skies over the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Jasper County, about 13 miles east of Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday afternoon, April 22, 2017. This view, from Walnut Creek, was captured at 3:38 pm CDT. The photography actions at this location were part of the Bryan Hansel Photography Workshop, held here from April 22-23. The road above, Pacific Street, winds through the savanna toward the Neal Smith Center, beyond the horizon at upper left.

3:43 pm and from just north of the Walnut Creek bridge.

Closer to the road at 3:48 pm. The 3,600-acre refuge is named after Congressman Neal Edward Smith, who set its creation in motion with the Fish and Wildlife Service acquisition of the land in 1990. The land was previously owned by Iowa Power and Light Company and intended for a nuclear power plant. The area contains tallgrass prairie and oak savanna ecosystems that once graced most of the state of Iowa. Bison and elk live on the land. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Sunup And The Main Event

With the planet Venus and the crescent moon fading into the gathering light of sunrise, the prime subject for the gathering of participants in the April 22-23, 2017 Bryan Hansel Photography Workshop finally appeared. The image above (6:25 am CDT, April 23) and below (6:27 am) looks east from W 129th Street S, just south of S 102nd Avenue W, about one mile SW of the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge Center, and about 13 miles east of Des Moines, Iowa. Official sunrise was at 6:13 am. Air temperature at this moment registered at 45 degrees F. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Celestial Bodies Enhance Bryan Hansel Photography Workshop

The April 22-23, 2017 Bryan Hansel Photography Workshop was held at and near the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, just east of Des Moines, Iowa. Part of the workshop, of which I was a participant of, was a sunrise photography session on Sunday morning, April 23. Official sunrise was 6:13 am CDT. Workshop attenders were asked to meet at the gravel road intersection of W 129th Street S and S 102nd Avenue W around 5:30 am to have ample time to set up. An added bonus shone in the eastern sky at this time: the -4.52 magnitude planet Venus and a beautiful thin crescent moon. The above image was captured at 5:40 am from S 102nd Avenue W, near the intersection. Air temperature was a chilly 45 degrees F.

5:44 am. Another (zoomed out) view of the display from the same location. Many arriving attenders
approached from the road's distant horizon with distracting headlights, forcing photographers to have to wait until the vehicles glided past them in the foreground.

This image shows workshop photographers setting up and capturing the celestial event (right), along W 129th Street S, just south of the intersection of S 102nd Avenue W a minute later. Vehicles parked along S 102nd Avenue can be seen in the background at left. This location was about one mile SW of the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge Center. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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