SkyPix

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

Wellfleet Stovepipe

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Condensation of the long-lived and high-contrast "Wellfleet tornado" widened from a classical elephant-trunk shape to near its greatest apparent breadth during this stage, curiously, soon before dissipation.  What had been very little precipitation around the low-level mesocyclone increased visibly, wrapping mainly northwest to southwest of the vortex in graceful-looking, curvy shafts, as the … [Read more...]

Twilight Highlight of the High Plains

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Ghostly in form, deadly in electrical threat, a High Plains supercell that gave me one of the most spectacular skies I've ever seen continued to dazzle through early twilight in extreme eastern New Mexico.  The tornado risk on this day was fairly close to zero, but after the show this storm put on, lasting even deeper into the evening as it moved into the giant road void of nearby Oldham County, … [Read more...]

Etowah Night Wedge

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One of a long series of erratically moving tornadoes produced by the "Cole-Shawnee" supercell, this fourth of the surveyed "Etowah" tornadoes was briefly one of the best-defined visually, manifesting as a genuine wedge in the deep woods of extreme eastern Cleveland County.  Given the wobbly and often strongly deviant motions of this storm's mesocyclones and accompanying tornadoes, I kept good … [Read more...]

St. Onge Arcus

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Don't get fixated on the mesocyclone region, even if it is worth intense attention as this storm's was, and ignore strikingly beautiful formations in other directions!  Fortunately that advice is a little easier to follow when the other spectacular part of the storm is directly connected.  This sharply layered, tiered arcus extended southwestward as part of the rear-flank downdraft, making a … [Read more...]

Roaring Bowl

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The first tornado from the future London, KY supercell formed just to our WNW in southeastern Missouri, whereupon we got out of the way and let it cross the road behind us.  The roar continued, as did the hook rain and unavoidable few more drops on the lens filter, as it sped eastward through somewhat wet, somewhat dusty fields, remarkably refusing to condense a funnel below the cloud-base … [Read more...]

Evening on the High Plains

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Twilight's "blue hour" on the High Plains can be special for photography, especially when the sky is involved, and a big ol' supercell dominates much of said sky, tossing blasts of lightning from the vault region.  This was the sixth and most well-structured of a series of supercells that rolled NE from the Boulder area up I-76 corridor on the same afternoon and evening.   12 SSW Wiggins CO (18 … [Read more...]