SkyPix

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

Tipton Twisting

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Some tornadoes never develop beneath a wall cloud, as with this event.  After a three-way handoff involving the demise of this stout supercell's Luray tornado, and a brief interloper, the "Tipton" tornado formed tilted, then visually righted itself as a bent cone here, before quickly enlarging.  In the meantime, it formed a fitting centerpiece for a fascinating whole-storm show, with rotation … [Read more...]

Outflow Dust Blast

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With what soon became a tornadic supercell located over an hour to our north, moving away, and our storms further down the dryline in a phase of heaving severe downdraft winds well before themselves, it was a decidedly disappointing chase day.  Still, this ranks as one of the fiercest outflow-dust events I've experienced, barely able to stand to shoot, interesting in its own right when subtracting … [Read more...]

Sunset Subset

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What better way to accentuate an already magnificent, sky-sweeping, landscape-lightning sunset scene than to wait a couple minutes after the wide-angle shot for its deeper colors to simmer and warm a bit, then shoot an evolved and well-textured subset of it!  Though I've seen it before in eastern-sky sunsets, somehow the altocumulus' magenta tones here stood out remarkably well amidst the sea of … [Read more...]

Core Edge CG

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Turbulently formed and intricately textured, the underside of a shelf cloud surged overhead, as the electrically active core region responsible for the outflow surge blasted forth a furious fusillade of lightning.  This was one of at least 20 CG strikes from the same part of the storm in a five-minute period, only a handful of which I was able to catch on digital film.  The fact that I could bag … [Read more...]

Wintry Summertime

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A fast-moving little supercell left a 100+ mile trail of hail across southern South Dakota into northern Nebraska, including this wintry-looking accumulation of mostly 1/2 to 1-1/2-inch stones (measured with photo report tweeted to the Rapid City NWS).  Hail washed from the hills and accumulated in fence lines and roadsides, as flash flooding drained toward the Little White River, just to my … [Read more...]

Refractive Retreat

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After sweeping across the road just to my northeast with blustery force, this fast-moving, outflow-surfing, post-cold-frontal supercell emerged into sunlight with spectacular effect, flashing a brilliant mid-afternoon rainbow for a long time and many miles, near to far.  Post-cold-frontal?  Yes, supercells can happen in any environment where enough lift, moisture, instability, and shear exist, … [Read more...]