SkyPix

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

Sun through Anvil

By

Above a deep desert wash in southeastern Utah, a cumulonimbus' anvil spread eastward, blocking out a great deal of sunshine, but for a thin patch allowing the sun itself.  Despite the anvil's thickness otherwise, the storm that produced it wouldn't offer a valley-deepening flash flood here; it already was weakening, and soon would devolve to a patch of remnant high clouds wafting toward the … [Read more...]

Autumn Along Swift Creek

By

Aptly named Swift Creek rushes through its namesake canyon in the Salt River Range, draining a small part of western Wyoming's high country, rendering a beautiful, placid scene with its gaudy clothing of autumnal colors.  Off the well-trodden tourism paths, but still readily accessible by road and foot, still reside some gems of the West.  This area certainly is one. 3 ENE Afton WY (22 Sep 13) … [Read more...]

Whirling past Wapanucka, Part 4

By

[Part 4 of 4]  There's a lot to unpack and interpret here.  After narrowing and becoming a fuzzy, barely condensed vortex, the Wapanucka (Bromide) tornado approached closer, compelling my  moving to the next hilltop south, where a safe pullout was available.  The tornado narrowed further, but formed a clearly defined condensation cone above the ground.  The circulation's base struck a … [Read more...]

LP Supercell in the Golden Hour

By

A brilliantly sunlit low-precipitation (LP) supercell formed to our north and cruised east-northeastward, up the Turner Turnpike toward Tulsa.  The storm put on quite a gaudy show with its flared base, corkscrew appearance to the main updraft tower and ice-crystal collar in the middle levels.  Very little precipitation fell from this supercell for most of its early lifespan, except for severe hail … [Read more...]

Whirling past Wapanucka, Part 3

By

[Part 3 of 4]  The Wapanucka (Bromide) tornado apparently narrowed and weakened as it approached, but roared louder, and still was potentially dangerous.  Even though I was in a good photo spot, the tornado still was moving toward me.  It was time to scoot out of the way.  Though not looking as large as earlier, the true size of a tornadic vortex is hard to gauge when condensation is thin and … [Read more...]

LP Supercell and Radome

By

A near-sunset, low-precipitation (LP) supercell shined in the northeastern sky, with an experimental NEXRAD radar dome I had employed in another favorite image, but shot from the roof of the former NSSL/SPC building.  I scanned this wide-angle slide at high resolution and cropped it into an effective panoramic.  That backshearing collar of ice-crystal clouds below its top, at a decidedly lower … [Read more...]