Smoke Plume From Early Morning Fire

A smoke plume from a major fire rises and drifts in the southwestern sky around 12:48 AM, Saturday, July 30, 2011 as seen from Boyson Road near Timber Oak Court in Marion, Iowa. The fire was located at a mixed-housing and commercial complex under construction at 6th Street and 12th Avenue SE in downtown Cedar Rapids, about 5.3 miles away. Despite the distance, the smell of smoke was noticeable from this position. The fire reportedly started around 12:15 AM and was put under control about an hour later, but the building was a total loss. This image was captured using a 6-second exposure at f/5.3, 400 ISO and 40mm focal length.

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Uranus And Neptune--With An 'Aided' Eye

It took this exposure of one minute at f/3.4, and 320 ISO to resolve the planets Uranus and Neptune through hazy summer night skies around 12:55 AM, Saturday, July 30, 2011. This view looks southeast toward Marion, Iowa from Boyson Road near Timber Oak Court. The light source at lower left is a transformer power station on Alburnett Road. The 5.78 magnitude Uranus is identified by the left arrow and the 7.83 magnitude Neptune by the right arrow. Neptune's streak has been slightly enhaced for better visibility. It is possible to view the faint Uranus with the (good) naked eye, but Neptune is invisible to it. Both planets can be easily observed by using a simple pair of binoculars. Uranus was probably seen but not identified as a planet centuries before its official discovery in 1781. Neptune was discovered in 1846, mainly because of its mathematically predicted orbit. Neptune will reach its 2011 peak visibility on August 22.

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Giant Venus Fly Trap?

Resembling a huge Venus Fly Trap plant, the edge of this anvil cloud stretched nearly all the way across the sky around 7:25 AM, Thursday, July 28, 2011, from Progress Drive and Martha's Way in Hiawatha, Iowa. In fact, the capture was too wide for my 18mm lens to get everything in, so this is a created two-shot composite giving it a panoramic effect. The cumulonimbus cloud was located about 35 miles to the east, near the town of Onslow in Jones County and had cloud tops above 45,000 feet. About an hour and a half later at this Hiawatha location, strong thunderstorms produced lightning and heavy downpours.

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Illuminated Shelf Cloud

A portion of a shelf cloud, about 15 minutes away from arriving at this location at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is illuminated by an unknown light source in this 3-second exposure at f/5.6, 200 ISO and 18mm focal length. This view looks west around 9:00 PM, Friday, July 22, 2011.

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Stopped For Circulation

Cloud-to-ground lightning strikes the countryside to the northeast as storm chase driver Ryan Alliss surveys possible tornadic circulation in front of our vehicle, stopped on County Highway E16--a quarter-mile east of 180th Street and 3.75 miles west of Schleswig, Iowa around 7:55 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. After a few minutes of checking our situation along the roadside, we resumed driving and just under 8 miles later ran into stronger RFD winds to the northeast at Keystone Avenue and 330th Street. This is a video frame capture.

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Cumulonimbus Calvus With Pileus Belt

This growing cumulonimbus calvus tower sported a pileus belt at its middle as seen from Lininger Park in Marion, Iowa around 5:20 PM, Tuesday, July 26, 2011. Pileus are formed by strong updrafts acting upon moist air at lower altitudes. The pileus slowly migrated from left to right at the cloud's midsection. This calvus cloud was located about 22 miles to the east, in the Cedar Island/Morley/Olin area of Jones County. Cloud tops spiked above 55,000 feet.

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Dark Curtain

This very intimidating looking shelf cloud quickly and silently approaches the parking lot at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa just before 9:00 PM, Friday, July 22, 2011. The gust front produced high winds, heavy rain and lightning but did not cause damage at this location. This view looks northwest. Shelf clouds are often mistaken for wall clouds by some laypeople.

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