SkyPix

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

Blue Sky Anvil

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Defying the sign below, an increasingly dense cumulonimbus anvil spreads across miles of sandy Arizona desert, originating off the Chiricahua Mountains at unseen right rear.  Do you think the atmosphere cares about this sign (other than to pop it with lightning sometime)?  Befitting the fickle nature of orographically fired monsoonal multicells, areas of the mountains and immediately adjoining … [Read more...]

Notch Intensity

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A big, messy, north Texas-style high-precip (HP) supercell on the Colorado High Plains had come close to producing (and may have) a tornado on an occasion or two, but just couldn't quite organize enough yet.  The young wall cloud, in the storm's notch region, was intensely convergent, with very rapid rising motion in the scuddy lowering at center.  I thought it could produce an unambiguous tornado … [Read more...]

Sunrise, Front Side

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[Part 2 of 2] What a difference 180 degrees of view makes!  While the west side of the sky at my back still glowed in an unusually bright pink pastel, with soft transitions to baby blue, this wonderfully textured, kaleidoscopic cloudscape (and conveniently centered vertical shadow) blazed forth in the east.  This felt like it had orchestral accompaniment with a grandiose, anthem-like symphony … [Read more...]

Sunrise, Back Side

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[Part 1 of 2] Seeing this much brilliance out the west window, on the normally flatter side of sunrise, meant the sky likely was even more amazing on the front side.  But first, it was time to capture this moment before the magic faded away.  Then, no more than 45 seconds later, the same sunrise painted a much different picture across the eastern sky... [Go to Part 2] Norman OK (7 Dec 21) Looking … [Read more...]

Pastels of the Oklahoma Panhandle

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This supercell's long-lasting cavalcade of changing colors reached its visual zenith just before sunset, as the late afternoon rays passed around and through its deep plume of rain and hail.  A palette of pastels blended and merged amongst the dynamic airflows of the storm, churning together a multiflavored sorbet for the appreciative eyes.  To add still more texture to this visual richness of hue … [Read more...]

Rotating Uncertainties

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Even with decades of experience on hundreds of supercells, this was a challenging storm to spot well.  After some messy mesocyclonic lowerings (but none I could say were tornadic with certainty) south-southwest of Last Chance, I had to zip up to the crossroads and head east, before the fast-moving mesocyclone and any potential cyclic successor(s) could cut off the turn option.  Looking back in the … [Read more...]