SWIFT 2014 Day 12: Des Moines, IA

Last night the SWIFT team stayed in Lincoln, Nebraska and headed east today to Davenport, Iowa. Today's storm chase was pretty crazy and unexpected! SWIFT's original target area was an hour west of Des Moines, IA. After a couple storms had dissipated around the Iowa capital by early afternoon, SWIFT decided to keep heading east towards the "Quad Cities," where we would stay at night. While traveling east, Dr. Barrett recognized a storm forming north of the interstate. SWIFT decided to follow and track the development of the storm. Right before sunset, we watched as clouds came together to form an incredible super cell. SWIFT enjoyed a strikingly beautiful show of lightning on the rest of our drive to the hotel in Davenport. What a sight for the second-to-last day of chasing!