SkyPix

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

Wondrous Storm Light

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A maddening navigational error, gambling on a back-road shortcut that turned out to be flooded 15 miles in, made me backtrack 20 minutes each way onto a different, longer route, wondering what I had missed, barely able to return to the front of a growing storm cluster with embedded supercells. Yet that frustration became a blessing in disguise when I finally got back ahead of the storms, to be … [Read more...]

Crawler Lightning Reflected in Farmland Flood

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After a heavy-precipitation (HP) supercell unloaded copious hail up to 1-3/4 inches in diameter, and some low clouds cleared, this storm provided quite the fireworks show from its backside. A dip in the main channel reflected in part of a flooded farm field, across which running water was clearly audible. No planting would be happening for a few days or more after this!4 N Olustee OK (8 May 19) … [Read more...]

Multiple Vortices near Minco

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Though we saw 11 tornadoes in this most intense and destructive of Oklahoma tornado outbreaks, photography of them was very difficult on high-speed (low ISO) slide film. This is one which somehow came out steadily in zoom, of the wildly gyrating and metamorphosing Minco tornado from Storm B. In this stage, its condensation appearance varied from fat cone to wedge, translucent scud racer, … [Read more...]

Satellite Tornado, Chickasha

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As the major Chickasha tornado and its massive, parent supercell crossed the western outskirts of town, a second, separate and much smaller tornado formed to its east (right). Two at once, in the same mesocyclone! We were stunned to see this happen, but also fascinated as scientists by the process, and very fortunate to be able to witness such an uncommon event. The big tornado was obviously … [Read more...]

Occluded and Secluded

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Here's a zoomed-in view just a minute or less after the previous, wide-angle shot of the deeply occluded, tornadic Chugwater supercell's mesocyclone. Even in its final gasps, now well secluded from the main updraft area (and location of the new, nontornadic mesocyclone) in the foreground, the vortex was heaving forth many tons of dirt and brush, and capable of damage were there anything man-made … [Read more...]

Deep Marine Stratocumulus

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Thinner stratocumulus formations offshore, and atop the marine boundary layer, deepened in the zone of onshore convergence amidst a stiff onshore breeze, rendering a darker overhead cloud deck near the coast. This created a somewhat melancholy, cavernous (looking out from within) effect that befit this cool, wet, somber landscape and seascape quite well. A mixture of sporadic drizzle and sea spray … [Read more...]