SkyPix

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

Wall Cloud, Not Tornado!

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Glancing at this still image looking northwest, with no sense of motion, one may surmise this as a ragged-looking tornado; after all, it's in about the right place:  the inflow notch of a supercell, the main updraft and likely low/middle-level mesocyclone area, immediately upshear from the forward-flank tail cloud at right.   In fact, it was a very slowly rotating wall cloud, mostly rising in … [Read more...]

Tucson Funnel

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Surprise!  While fueling up at a south Tucson gas station, I happened to glance at a nearby, ragged, high thunderstorm base through a slot between the awning and store building.  Lo and behold:  a nub funnel cloud appeared—rotating as a true funnel must, albeit slowly.  The cyclonic, non-supercell funnel gradually lengthened into a cone and persisted for a few minutes.  That was just long enough … [Read more...]

Arizona Mountain Downburst

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Over the elevated plateau south of Flagstaff, numerous thunderstorms formed mostly separate from each other, but within about an hour's span.  This was one, dropping a well-defined downburst into the low mountains east of Prescott.   Within another hour, their growth and collective outflow had covered most of central and north-central Arizona's high country with cool, wet air, and surface … [Read more...]

Downburst and Classic Cars

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A more classical microburst is hard to find, with toroidal curling of rain feet.  A more classic pair of cars is hard to find too, with these old Mercurys long past their shelf life and facing the eastern Arizona sky.  I was hoping for cloud-to-ground lightning with this storm, given such an unusual foreground, but got none.  Fortunately, a later one in the chain of cells obliged! Benson AZ (12 … [Read more...]

Supercell Seedling

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Already sprouting a small tail cloud and growing a robust updraft base, this very young and increasingly electrified storm emerged from a large mass of mostly midlevel, midafternoon convection dropping virga and light rain, as I've seen several times with late-developing Colorado supercells.    Lightning activity grew markedly in this stage—not surprising considering this newfound updraft thrust … [Read more...]

Sunset Twist

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This amazing sunset scene was a story of perseverance amidst deep disappointment.  Believe it or not, I had to force myself to appreciate it.  While my two-vehicle caravan was busting, watching towers fizzle on a boundary 90 miles to the south in seemingly a better environment, this supercell formed and soon produced a spectacular little tornado, followed by an amazing structure show.  We finally … [Read more...]