Cold Front Weather

Photo by Craig Johnson, 9-25-2018, Cedar Falls, Iowa

This photo looking east during the late afternoon shows the backside of a cold front. Earlier in the day rain and thunderstorms crossed the state with heavy downpours and brief severe weather. Severe weather reports came from eastern Iowa where a tornado lofted 2 grain bins near Mechanicsville and winds estimated at 60 mph caused damage in the vicinity of Cedar Rapids.

The variety of clouds found in this photo show the changing air mass. The “wall” of white cloud in the distance is a line of thunderstorms that had moved out of Iowa into Wisconsin and Illinois. The cloud is the back of thunderstorms (cumulonimbus). Stratocumulus are indicated as the darker lower clouds and high in the upper right corner are either very high altocumulus or cirrocumulus. Temperatures fell from the 60s into the 50s after the passage of the front and readings will be in the 40s overnight. Autumn has arrived. Just a few days ago on September 20th we had a high temperature in Cedar Falls of 91 degrees. Welcome to weather on the prairie!