SkyPix

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

Derecho across the Badlands

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[Part 1 of 2]  Aside from being set in wondrously scenic geology, this image now stands as a piece of major weather history.  Earlier in the afternoon, I had been positioned in western South Dakota, north of Sturgis, in the event any supercells could develop ahead of a line of thunderstorms that yielded severe wind in the central Rockies for hours.  A 110-mph gust report buzzed off the weather … [Read more...]

Blue Hour in the Badlands

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The wavy band of severe storms that caused the Great Western Derecho of 2020 receded toward the northeastern horizon, leaving behind a rain-quenched, windblown Badlands scene that sparkled with occasional lightning in the distance.  Twilight's "blue hour" imparted a somber, thoughtful mood, combining with the moisture for natural tonal saturation of the already rich clay colors.   Flash floods … [Read more...]

Prairie Lake Reflections

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Sources of night light abound here:  a vehicle's headlights passing across the right far side of the lake, a bright complex of grain elevators in the distant left, and of course...atmospheric electricity! Car camping was my preferred mode of "social distancing" and avoiding people and their bodily residue, as part of strategic storm-observing travel during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.  This … [Read more...]

Orange June Opener

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Spectacular sunrises and sunsets are so common in central Oklahoma, and elsewhere up and down the Plains States, that it's easy to take them for granted.  I don't.  Then there are those that blaze the sky with a depth of texture and brilliance just a notch above, that drop jaws in admiration and appreciation.  This is that.  After 15 consecutive night shifts, with a long-anticipated block of time … [Read more...]

Cirrus Fibratus

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Fibrous cirrus tufts—fibratus, or featherlike—drift high over the Flint Hills of Kansas during late winter 2003.  In another month and a half, this field of remnant dry grass and forbs from the previous growing season would be burned, its ashes offering nutrients to the new growth that would feed livestock over the coming summer. 7 SSW Council Grove KS (20 Feb 3) Looking ENE 38.5539, -96.5216 … [Read more...]

Borderline Spectacular

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This splendid scene unfolded to our west only a few minutes after a a thoroughly pleasing mammatus display to the southeast.  We were just inside New Mexico from the Texas border, and under the vast painted skies of the tabletop-flat Llano Estacado.  Our senses were awash and aglow in the end of a stormy afternoon, soaking in the feel, sight, sound and smell of a landscape unusually soaked with … [Read more...]