SkyPix

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

That Wintertime Sun

By

Diffused through cold, gray stratus, the low sun of winter offered dim luminescence through an arboreal coating of ice on trees at the National Weather Center.  Silence broke only occasionally as gentle breezes swayed the branches, their ice coating emitting a creaking, groaning noise. Norman, OK (30 Jan 10)  Looking SW 35.1825, -97.4399 … [Read more...]

Fractocumulus with Funnel Cloud

By

Funnel-producing convection can be in the form of a supercell, any thunderstorm, even a volcanic cloud, wildfire plume, shower, towering cumulus, or small cumulus.  Any convective cloud or plume that stretches vorticity enough can spawn a funnel, if the pressure, temperature and humidity are right for the tube of air to condense cloud droplets (or in the case of fires and volcanoes, flame, smoke … [Read more...]

Horseshoe Vortex

By

A broad field of cumulus humilis and fractocumulus raced northward, almost at our own interstate highway pace, on a very dynamic day of high severe weather risk.  An environment of strong vertical shear is good for the formation not only of supercells, but of much smaller vortices for much different reasons.  Horseshoe vortices are harmless, but interesting to watch.  Spinning tubes of air that … [Read more...]

Storm of Eden

By

We had been observing another well-structured supercell from the E, near a little settlement called Knickerbocker, when the dryline jumped past our storm and left it to die in the moisture-starved air. Meanwhile, convection to our SE that had been bubbling rather innocuously for almost two hours exploded into the longest-lasting supercell of the day.  Thus outflanked, we had to take a dreadfully … [Read more...]

Inflow Sector

By

I appreciated the honor and privilege of watching this western Kansas supercell for its entire lifespan, from first towers north of Dodge City to mature, well structured storm here, to producer of a pleasant little tornado E of St. Peter, to a rain-enshrouded mess shortly before dark, SE of Hill City.  There's a wholeness of conceptual grasp, a completeness of comprehension nearly unmatched in … [Read more...]

Superior Little Cb

By

This scene typifies a small cumulonimbus moving mostly toward the viewer, its anvil beginning to spread almost symmetrically off the top of the convective towers.  A rocky beach along the northeast corner of Lake Superior framed this shot, beneath a fortunate northwesterly flow regime that kept ambient skies clean of haze, and visibility sharp.  A small stratus deck in the low foreground hid the … [Read more...]