Mare's Tail Sunset

Mare's tail clouds (cirrus uncinus) are illuminated by the setting sun in this view of the northwest sky around 8:45 PM on June 12, 2010. I shot this image from a Sam's Club gas station on Blairs Ferry Road in Cedar Rapids, Iowa following a visit to the town of West Union earlier in the day. Cirrus uncinus is derived from Latin meaning "curly hooks." This type of cloud occurs at very high altitudes in cold and unstable layers and usually heralds the approach of precipitation--in this case from a thunderstorm--two days later.

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Fire Sky

What looks here like a raging forest fire on the western horizon was in reality just clouds brilliantly illuminated by the setting sun--truly a "red sky at night, sailor's delight" setting. This image looks toward the southwest from the grounds of Northbrook Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in September, 1998.

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All Focused On The Comet

This Celestron 60mm refractor telescope provided extra magnification power for the viewing of the comet Hale-Bopp (center) hanging low in the northwest sky at 8:00 PM on March 19, 1997. This view looks out over the grounds of Northbrook Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The constellation Cassiopeia is seen above the comet at top. The bright star to the left of Hale-Bopp is Mirach, in the constellation Andromeda.

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Lumpy Sky

The underside of an approaching cumulonimbus anvil contained this formation of mammatus clouds just after 6:00 PM on July 24, 2009. The spectacle preceded a thunderstorm by about an hour. Mammatus usually form in a very moist and unstable middle or upper level of the atmosphere, overlying a drier layer below the anvil. The elements of this type of cloud represent inverse convection--instability in the downward direction rather than upward. This view looks west toward Bowman Woods Park from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The very pronounced formations lasted for about 15 minutes.

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Nebulous Cloud

This remnant cloud from a departing storm system that included dangerous CTG lightning on the evening of June 18, 2010 is brilliantly illuminated by direct beams from a very low setting sun. Because of the circumstances, several individual clouds had the appearance of generating their own illumination. This view looks west from the eastern boundary of Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa just after 8:30 PM. The sky had this look for about 20-30 minutes before the sun completely disappeared below the horizon.

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No Volleyball Today

Inundation from Dry Run Creek flowed all the way to the Bowman Woods neighborhood recreation area on Thursday afternoon, June 12, 2008. The volleyball court stands under water at left. Untouched was the tennis courts and swimming pool. The recreation area is located just east of the Boyson Road/Brentwood Drive NE intersection and just west of the boundary between the cities of Cedar Rapids and Marion, Iowa. Significant flooding began on this day in the metro area after several days of heavy rainfall, much of it coming downstream from the north. Especially hit hard was the downtown area of Cedar Rapids.

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Moonglow

A just-past full moon sets over the C Avenue NE area of Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 5:20 AM, Wednesday, August 25, 2010. This composite photo was taken from the grounds at Christ Community United Methodist Church in neighboring Marion using a 55-200 mm lens. The main image was a four-second exposure at f/5.6 with an ISO rating of 200. The moon, which at this moment was actually just out of the image frame at top, was shot separately at 1/2000 second at f/5.6 and a 200 ISO. The transmitter tower seen at distant right is operated by Century Communications LLC, and is located along Boyson Road NE, just west of C Avenue.

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