SkyPix

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

Washed and Dried

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An area of Permian badlands in northwest Texas contains soft red shales and sandstones, infused with beds of crumbly gypsum and greenish-gray lenses of copper-bearing clays, eroded quickly and easily in the numerous dry washes. The resulting sandy slurry from one storm left behind the pattern of running water upon drying. While the surface still was moist, a small animal tracked across. The … [Read more...]

Blue Sky, Sticky Snow

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Cold, wet misery of an overcast day before, with freezing rain and a bonus coating of sticky, wet evening snow, gave way to a gloriously calm and sunny midwinter's morning—not as cold as it looks—where just a little melting and re-freezing into icicles further textured the scene. Within a day temperatures would rise over 60 degrees F, and the snow would linger only in memories and some … [Read more...]

Ghost of Waters Past

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Down dramatically from deep drought and downstream draws dictated by decree, the June 2012 water level of Lake McConaughy was near its lowest since the reservoir's filling, soon following the dam's 1941 completion. Though it would refill in just a couple of years, the low lake level allowed exploration of bed sediments flooded for decades, including these sandy shallows on a southern cove. … [Read more...]

Contrail Shadows

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Jetliners crisscross the upper-tropospheric sky often here in "Flyover Country", hence the nickname (or epithet, depending). As such, in the right conditions of humidity and wind up there, we often witness contrails. What we do not see commonly are their shadows, so plainly cast on clouds below them, as in this slightly lower-level (but still high aloft!) thin cirrus deck. A faint 22-degree … [Read more...]

Elevated Turbulence

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A long line of storms, extending from Kansas to western Oklahoma, offered mostly outflow and high bases along its Okie segment for much of the late afternoon. Still, while awaiting something more intercept-worthy in the region, it was fun to find a high vantage and observe an ever-evolving, chaotic and dynamic sky in every direction. This storm base, elevated over outflow from another's … [Read more...]

Western Oklahoma in Springtime

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Fortunately for us, this high-stakes sparking extravaganza was shifting away from our hilltop promontory, for we could appreciate the electrical spectacle from afar without hastening to evacuate. At this time, no supercells had formed yet (that would happen later); but we were content nonetheless. Overhead and all around, the fluid sky offered wonders to behold, even in a turbulent, elevated … [Read more...]