SkyPix

A digital photographic storybook of clouds, weather and water by Roger Edwards.

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Contrail Flow

2022-01-18 By Roger Edwards

Contrail Flow

The end of an all-night operational shift doesn’t have to mean the end of the weather for the day.  From the parking lot of the National Weather Center, I saw an old east-to-west contrail maintaining its edges but widening while moving southward.  A plane was flying from Memphis to Las Vegas to its immediate north, creating a new, parallel contrail.  Both maintained orientation as they advected southward, each filling with a rich cavalcade of transverse waves at different wavelengths.  Isn’t it amazing how something simple, even man-made like a contrail, can reveal such intricate details about atmospheric flow happening in otherwise clear air?  By the time I got just a few blocks away, they were joined by a sundog (parhelion), and I needed to find a sun-blocking foreground to snag this uncommon and richly textured scene.  Look closely at these elements and ponder how complex the flow is all around them, as well as above and below.

Norman OK (13 Jan 22) Looking SE
35.1846, -97.4355

Filed Under: Mini Cloud Atlas Tagged With: cirrus, clouds, contrails, landscapes, Norman, Oklahoma, parhelia, sundogs, University of Oklahoma, weather, wintertime

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About

Welcome to SkyPix, an online photo book of clouds, weather and water by Roger Edwards. As in a printed coffee-table book, every image has its own page with a unique story. After all, meaningful photography is much more than just picture-taking; it is visually rendering a moment in place and time from a perspective like none other. As a scientist and an artist, I hope my deep passion for the power and splendor of our skies and waters shines through in these pages. If you are a cloud and weather aficionado, outdoor enthusiast, outdoor or nature photographer, art lover, or anyone who craves learning, enjoy...

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Further images from this photographer may be found at:
Roger Edwards Image of the Week
Roger Edwards Digital Galleries
Storms Observed Chase BLOG

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