Strike Night

A CTG lightning bolt slashes from beneath a storm cell as it passes west of Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 8:54 PM, Friday, May 25, 2012. Although some flashes of lightning were observed overhead at this location from Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, little effects of the storm were experienced here. Image is an eleven second exposure at f/25, 200 ISO and 24mm focal length.

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Cumulonimbus Perspectives

These were the views of a large storm cell on our eastern horizon Monday afternoon, May 28, 2012, as we returned home to Cedar Rapids from a Memorial Day trip to Des Moines, Iowa. In panel 1, the storm was located about 80 miles away at the border of Keokuk and Washington counties. In panel 12, the storm was about 40 miles from our position, in Muscatine and Cedar counties. Time and place of our vehicle was as follows: Panel 1: 3:10 PM. At E. University Ave. & Copper Creek Dr. in Des Moines. 2: 3:18 PM. Interstate 80 & US Hwy. 6 interchange near Adventureland Park. 3. 3:21 PM. At a Casey's on 1st Ave. N. in Altoona. 4. 3:32 PM. I-80 1.3 miles west of Mitchellville. 5. 3:41 PM. I-80 just NE of Colfax and 8 miles west of Newton. 6. 3:43 PM. I-80 west of Newton. 7. 3:47 PM. I-80 just west of Newton. 8. 3:48 PM. I-80 at Newton near the Iowa Speedway. 9. 3:51 PM. I-80 just east of Newton. 10. 3:57 PM. I-80 at the Lynnville/Oakland Acres exit. 11. 4:21 PM. I-80 at rest area about 2.5 miles west of Ladora exit. 12. I-80 near the Williamsburg exit.

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Cumulonimbus Splendor

My wife and I spent Memorial Day in Des Moines and Central Iowa and I had the good fortune of watching this cumulonimbus storm cell blossom to the east--in the direction of our return home to Cedar Rapids. The cell began forming west of Ottumwa, Iowa just after 2:00 PM, Monday, May 28, 2012. A "pit stop" at the Casey's General Store for gas on 1st Avenue North in Altoona, Iowa just off Interstate 80 presented me with this magnificent view of the structure at 3:21 PM. The cell's anvil tip is at left, with the trailing updraft "engine" some 26 miles behind it (right), with cloud tops there around 45,000 feet. The storm was actually located 80 miles away in NW Washington County. The building seen at left is operated by Interstate Powersystems Inc. at 407 Adventureland Drive NE Altoona. The bottom radar image shows the storm (between Ottumwa and Cedar Rapids) and our vehicle's position in relation to it (the star just east of Des Moines) at 3:21 PM.

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Twin Storm Cells

Although not severe-warned themselves, the two thunderstorm cells in the top image were part of a line of storms that fired up on Memorial Day, Monday afternoon, May 28, 2012 from just northeast of Ottumwa, Iowa all the way up into southwest Wiscconsin. The storm cells can also be seen in the NWS-Quad Cities radar image (circled) at bottom. The top photo looks SSE from the new Bowman Meadows housing development site in Marion, Iowa around 5:29 PM. The cells were located about 55 miles away from the camera in northern Louisa County and were about 20 miles apart.

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Contrasts In Cloud Color

As a thunderstorm moved in a SW-to-NE direction west of this position at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 8:34 PM, Friday, May 25, 2012, it began to cover up the setting sun. Dark bluish-gray clouds at left from the more concentrated areas of the storm contrasted greatly with the yellowish areas of the right side of the image--the leading edge of the storm cell.

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Zapped!

Cloud-to-ground lightning (CTG) discharges from a thunderstorm cell in this view of the WNW sky around 9:10 PM, Friday, May 25, 2012. This image looks toward the White Ivy Place NE neighborhood as seen from the grounds at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The storm cell was reaching a altitude of nearly 50,000 feet in places. The lightning strike was probably about four miles away. This cell slid west of Cedar Rapids--pretty much missing the city--which most storms of 2012 have had a propensity of doing. Photo is a 24-second exposure at f/11, 200 ISO and is cropped from an 18mm focal length lens setting.

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Exercise In Initiation

Iowa State University meteorology students and storm chasers Sam Schreier (foreground) and Tristan Morath toss a football back-and-forth in very breezy conditions while passing the time away during the waiting phase for severe thunderstorms to fire up (initiation). This image looks north from a cleared former gas station and convenience store site about .2-mile north of the Minden, Iowa exit (Exit 29) along Interstate 80. The atmosphere was building for a tornado outbreak as the open sun was providing fuel and instability at this moment--4:23 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011--with temperatures in the lower 80s and dew points in the lower 70s. Schreier and Morath were part of an eight-person, two-vehicle chase group that included me. A supercell began forming in eastern Nebraska just before 5:00 PM, prompting the group to head west to near the Missouri River, then zigzagging northeast through western Iowa staying on the SE flank of a powerful storm system. The water tower in the background is less than a mile distant.

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