SkyPix

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

Dusty Supercell with “Ring of Saturn”

By

Beauty, or ugliness, is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to cloud forms.  In this case, I'd call it both, rendering a weird and somewhat otherworldly sky unlike any I've seen in a very long time.  The supercell started out high-based, its outflow strong enough to loft countless thousands of tons of openly exposed, west Texas topsoil, its inflow slowly growing intense enough to … [Read more...]

Icy Variety

By

This was a wondrous assortment of freshly fallen hail in one place, the only addition being the knobby, nearly 2-inch-diameter piece from merely a couple feet to the right of the view.  Sizes ranged from less than pea sized to hailstones about half an inch larger than the measured specimen, based on a few others I noticed later.  It's fascinating to contemplate the multitude of processes, … [Read more...]

Montana Prairie Sentinel

By

Outflow from the storm in the distant background rushed across the rolling Montana prairies, whipping the wildflowers to and fro, and offering us a cool breeze within which to enjoy the scenery.  The same outflow also acted as a source for lift, supporting development of this vigorous (but elevated) cluster of towering cumulus and cumulus congestus clouds.  We casually enjoyed this splendid view, … [Read more...]

Blue Sky Window

By

Expectations of rampaging storms, marching across the Kansas High Plains in an armada of unseasonable September severity, drew us a few hundred miles northwestward.  One magical sunset and some splendid nocturnal lightning kept us there.  The storms developed about where and when I had expected, but stayed very small—so small in fact that several lined up in a row along the dryline.  Their narrow … [Read more...]

Weak Multivortex Tornado

By

Shortly before this circulation formed, the storm had the typically high, roughly textured, broad base of a young supercell on Colorado's eastern High Plains, and was similar to many other storms I've seen in these parts.  In about a 15-minute span, a scuddy wall cloud formed, tapering and lowering its ragged form while steadily spinning stronger.  The cloud grew lower as air rose faster, thanks … [Read more...]

Flood in Plainview

By

During and shortly after heavy thunderstorms, towns on flatter parts of the High Plains, with underdeveloped and/or clogged drainage infrastructure, will often experience street flooding for hours.   Such was the case on this late afternoon, with this flooding in very plain view.  It happened during a slow-moving, structurally ambiguous mess of an HP supercell that merged with other storms into a … [Read more...]