SkyPix

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

Whirling past Wapanucka, Part 1

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[Part 1 of 4]  Just a shade under four years earlier, I came home from a night shift, went to bed, and told my wife, Elke: "Wake me up if there's a supercell within a couple counties of us, west of I-35".  There was, she did, and after a quick look at satellite, surface chart and radar, I threw on clothes and bolted off.   While unable to get down the Interstate in time for the first of a tornadic … [Read more...]

Panhandle Anticrepuscular Rays

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Anticrepuscular rays converge on the east-southeast to southeast horizon during northern-hemispheric sunsets near summer solstice.  In this film slide, anvil material is seen overhead at left, spewing off a supercell behind me to the northwest.  The distant pink thunderhead at lower right was over 100 miles away—a supercell which would produce a tornado after dark southeast of Wichita Falls. 5 … [Read more...]

Rainy Sunset

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Some of the most eerily beautiful sunsets are seen through the rain, when skies are clearing to the west.  Here, the sun's rays cast a broad pink swath on the trailing anvil of a squall line, which was softened by refraction across miles of light rain.  I was headed to Dallas to visit my dad, who was comatose in the hospital after a nearly fatal wreck; and this scene was so calming and soothing I … [Read more...]

Abandoned on Wyoming Prairie

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Withstanding the Wyoming wind for decades, this abandoned barn and its attached tool shed somehow still appear on satellite imagery ten years later.  That's the mark of good craftsmanship by the homesteader who built it many decades ago.  Having intercepted a tornado-producing supercell earlier near Chugwater, and barely dodging huge, damaging hailstones, we came upon this scene rather tired.  It … [Read more...]

Wolfe City Wall Cloud

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This low, ominous wall cloud rotated vigorously for 15–20 minutes, becoming encircled and occluded by rain and hail from a strong rear-flank downdraft, while a new mesocyclone (at right) tried to form.  As often happens in my presence, it did no more than that.  The entire storm wound itself into a murky, foreboding, heavy-precip (HP) supercell, heading off past Greenville and into the dark … [Read more...]

Lefors Wall Cloud and Tornado

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I've shot more distant, low-contrast tornado photos than I care to count or admit or display in SkyPix, but will include this scan as a spotting lesson.  Darkness and low contrast are common impediments to photography under severe storms, especially with relatively unforgiving 1990s-era slide film.  Can you identify the tornado?  It produced F0 damage to fences and utility equipment.  We saw it … [Read more...]