SkyPix

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

Tails of the Night

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This marvelous August "Tail-end Charlie" supercell had well-developed tail clouds in its brief daylight and twilight stages, largely lost the forward-flank tail for a spell while still spitting vault lightning, then regained numerous tails here.  Yes, that probably sets the record for number of uses of the word "tail" in a single sentence in SkyPix. 2 N Ordway CO (4 Aug 20) Looking NNW 38.2559, … [Read more...]

West Texas Wall Cloud

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1992 was a sparse Great Plains chase year for me, with one tornadic day (11 May in southern Oklahoma, no passable photos), a couple of short-lived west Texas supercells, and that's about it.   When living in another part of the country, and needing to take leave months in advance, one must accept and appreciate whatever the atmosphere gives in the time window available.  In such a year, therefore, … [Read more...]

Dinner Forks

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This is forked lightning, two strokes to be specific, from an electrically prolific thunderstorm near the New Mexico/Oklahoma line.  Since I was still munching on some fast food picked up in Clayton, these were dinner forks.  Am I wrong? 3 S Seneca NM (2 Aug 20) Looking NNE 36.5838, -103.1267 … [Read more...]

4-Layer Outflow Cake

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Many thunderstorm complexes with deep cold pools produce tiered shelf formations on their leading edges, especially when impinging on a boundary layer that is stabilizing with the loss of afternoon solar heating.  It's not very common to see four such layers, however, extending well into the midlevels.  They're easy to count, stacked one above the next.   One even can argue a thin, partial fifth … [Read more...]

Barstow Blow

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If this west Texas cloud formation resembles a snowplow to you, that's not entirely accidental.  Both represent a heaver, denser mass (cold slab of outflow air, plow blade) lifting lighter material (warm inflow air, snow).  Of course, here's where that superficial similarity ends:  the snow ultimately falls aside, whereas the inflow air rises to form the shelf cloud, then enters the storm's … [Read more...]

Lovin’ Lightning at the Lake

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Following a grand structure and lightning show of a couple hours, the Ordway supercell merged with other convection that was developing nearby, evolving into a complex of thunderstorms that churned off to the southeast, destined for northeastern New Mexico and the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles, while spitting sparks in and out of its rain cores.  This tall stroke emanated from the upper reaches of … [Read more...]