A Funnel Cloud In My Home Town

I took this photo from our yard this past July. It was my first time seeing a funnel cloud, although I experienced a violent tornado in 1998.

What was incredibly memorable about this funnel cloud is that it appeared on an evening when there were almost 30,000 overnight guests in my home town of 7,140 people! Each July there is a bicycle ride across Iowa called RAGBRAI. The riders and their support crew stay in a different town each night for a week as they travel east. They happened to be in my home town that evening. In fact, I had about 20 people camping in my yard! Some were here from California, Utah, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.

The funnel cloud was only visible for a minute or two, then disappeared into the cloud. There were no sirens or severe weather alerts. It was very strange.

Later that evening as my guests shared some good California wine with me and my wife, I asked them if they saw the funnel. They had not, so I showed them this photo. We were all thankful that the storm did not materialize, and went about our evening of wine and good conversation.

Thanks for reading my post! Stay warm, friends!