SkyPix

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

Three-Way Tornadic Handoff

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Even with the obvious tornado at lower right, a great deal more was happening here.  The tilted cone tornado was less than 30 seconds old, and soon would grow much larger, to become the "Tipton" event.  The old Luray tornado just had dissipated on the southern corner of the distant supercell's updraft area, at far lower left.  In between:  a short-lived, intermediary, diffuse, yet tornadic … [Read more...]

Luray Tornado’s Demise

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We arrived at a known high spot with unfettered western view (Waconda Lake dam) to observe a much-closer, nontornadic, yet tornado-warned supercell moving along a warm front toward Glen Elder.  Then in the distant southwest, we noticed this end-stage tornado dangling desperately, and in ultimate futility, from the rear of the trailing supercell's main updraft near Tipton.  This turns out to have … [Read more...]

Triangular Supercell

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Supercells over the Great Plains can assume some bizarre and magnificent cloud configurations, and this approximate right triangle was one of the oddest yet.  The storm still had a robust, if narrow, surface-based inflow region, manifest as a ragged updraft base, somewhat expanded from just 10–15 minutes before, with a tail cloud on the left (southeast) side.  That updraft rotated modestly, as the … [Read more...]

Magnificent Travel Impediment

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As instinct should tell most commuters, a beautiful cloud formation such as this also signals potential danger to travelers beneath.  Indeed, the storm contained severe hail, intense winds, and blinding heavy rain responsible for flooding in and near the Plainview area shortly before.  This was a supercell, still rotating in middle levels despite the large load of rain and hail falling from most … [Read more...]

Winter Sunrise

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A cold, calm dawn casts a warm sky glow behind the blackjacks, post oaks and black walnut trees of the Western Crosstimbers belt.  These trees had been broken by a weak tornado and two ice storms in the preceding five years.  Then their dormant, living remains, rendered jagged and forlorn in visual form by the arboreal nakedness of wintertime, silhouetted a deck of sun-splashed … [Read more...]

Flanking-Line Tornado near Sunset

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But, but, but...where's the tornado? Not all tornadoes are obvious at first glance, even when there's no precipitation or terrain interfering with the line of sight. Can you, diligent spotter, locate not just the ground circulation but the one at cloud base from just this two-dimensional image?  Click the image to expand.   The smudge of debris at lower center defines the ground contact of the … [Read more...]