A Portal to the Heavens

Large birds soar in front of an opening in the clouds at 5:58 pm CDT, May 2, 2020. This image looks west from Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Pileus Cap On April 27 Storm Cell

This storm cell had passed east over my location at Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on the evening of Monday, April 27, 2020. As it did so, it acquired a pileus cap (right) at 6:25 pm CDT. Pileus are short-lived formations created by strong updrafts at lower altitudes acting on moist air above, causing the air to cool to its dew point. Moist pileus are associated with severe weather, but this particular occurrence was not. Weather conditions at the time were: 74 degree F temperatures, 52 degree dew point and 47% humidity. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Radar capture corresponding to the same time as the photograph at top. Arrow points to the area of the pileus cloud. 

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Didn't Happen

These were the Storm Prediction Center's (SPC) Categorical, Tornado, Wind and Hail convective outlooks posted at 7:26 AM CDT on Tuesday, April 28, 2020. The eastern half of the state of Iowa was included with definite potential for severe weather, and the day's scenario looked reminiscent of the setup on May 24, 2019 where instability was greater in Texas and Oklahoma in the south but with greater wind shear in southeast Iowa in the north. That setup would produce a tornado southwest of Iowa City. This time, The Weather Channel was setting TorCons of 3 in eastern Iowa (30% chance of a tornado in a 50 mile radius), and Extreme Meteorologist Reed Timmer had pegged tornado chances for the Dubuque and Davenport areas in a morning briefing.

Garden variety thundershowers moved through the Cedar Rapids area around 1:00 pm, followed by some partial clearing. By 4:00 pm a small but promising cell began to form near Iowa City, moving northeast. I quickly got on US Highway 30 east, with the expectation that this cell would go severe and I would be able to intercept it in time. In reality though, by the time I reached it, it began to weaken. In fact, despite all earlier forecasts, NOWHERE in the state of Iowa were there any watches or warnings the entire day. In the image above, I am eastbound on US Highway 30, about .75-mile east of the town of Mechanicsville, Iowa, looking toward the weakening cell at 4:48 pm.

Looking northeast at the cell at 4:49 pm.

4:53 pm. Eastbound on US 30 just east of the town of Stanwood and 5 miles west of Clarence, Iowa. I would continue east until I was located between the towns of Clarence and Lowden before deciding to return home, realizing the show was over for the day. A major bust in Iowa. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Radar capture for 4:55 pm. The large area at right was the object of my intended intercept. The small cell at lower left formed and then dissolved within a few minutes. The black arrow indicates storm movement.

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Bullish on the Moon, Venus and Aldebaran

A waxing crescent moon, the -4.51 magnitude planet Venus (at top), and of course the 0.84 magnitude star Aldebaran were in Taurus (The Bull constellation) on the evening of Saturday, April 25, 2020, forming a right triangle of sorts. These captures look west from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The image above, captured at 8:45 pm CDT, is a 0.6 second exposure at f/5.3, ISO 640 and 48mm focal length. Below is a 0.6 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 800 and 55mm focal length, captured at 8:47 pm. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Much Ado About Nothing

Churning mammatus-like cloud formations were seen approaching in the western sky from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Wednesday morning, April 22, 2020. Despite the ominous appearance, however, it dissipated into a full overcast within minutes and only produced some light rain. The three images posted here were captured around 7:30 am CDT. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Radar capture corresponding to the time of the cloud formations shown above, showing the garden variety weather system approaching.

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2020 Lyrids Meteor Shower

I set my alarm for 1:30 am on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 to view the Lyrids Meteor Shower peak. A weather forecast predicted clouds arriving after 3:00 am, so I chose this slightly less desirable earlier time. At 1:30 am the sky was clear but hazy. Temperature was 42 degrees F and 58% humidity. My Nikon D7200 DSLR camera was set up from my back deck on a tripod with a remote cord to continuously capture shots to stack together as star trails later in post processing. The image above looks northeast from Brentwood Drive in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It is a 10 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 800, 16mm focal length, captured at 1:45 am CDT. An additional fainter meteor streak (from 2:10 am) has been added to the image at right center, just right of the radiant constellation Lyra, featuring its bright star Vega.

This image is a combination of 192 separate images, stacked together in StarStaX 2, creating a star trails image. Each of the images are 10 second exposures at f/2.8, ISO 800, 16mm focal length. Total photographing time was from 1:38-2:11 am. The annual Lyrids meteor shower is created when during late April our Earth crosses through debris from the orbital path of the Comet Thatcher. The debris enters Earth's atmosphere at 110,000 miles an hour and are vaporized into the bright trajectories of light we see from the ground.

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A Definite Climate Change

Winter Storm Sadie began rolling across the state of Iowa on Thursday, April 16, 2020. The sizable and unusual snow system for the season reached Cedar Rapids around 11:00 pm CDT. Above is a radar capture corresponding to 4:40 am on April 17, with heavier precipitation shown well over the city. The white arrow indicates storm movement. Though light flurries continued after 7:00 am, I recorded a total of 3.5 inches of snowfall from my location on the eastern border of Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids.

The image above and following images were captured from my backyard or in the park from 6-7 am Friday morning. By 2:00 pm, with temperatures having climbed into the upper 40s, all of the snow was gone. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Weather station showing conditions at 6:48 am after most of the snow had fallen.

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