SkyPix

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

Separate Funnel Back There

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After producing a scenic tube in Wyoming, this supercell spun across the western plains of Nebraska for several hours, threatening on a few occasions to spin up another tornado.  This probably was the closet such attempt to succeeding, when a vigorously rotating wall cloud passed above the rolling wheat fields of central Banner County.  The near-tornado, however, was from an old, occluded … [Read more...]

Bifurcated Wall Cloud

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Several in a series of rapidly rotating but short-lived wall clouds formed in this northern part of a merged supercell pair, each low-level mesocyclone undercut by precipitation before it could produce a tornado.  In this case, the occlusion downdraft cut the wall cloud nearly in half (bifurcation), though more wall clouds would form shortly.  Diffused sunset light from the distance cast the … [Read more...]

Merged Pair at Sunset

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This wide-angle view encompasses most of a large, complex storm, known in storm intercept and V.O.R.T.EX.-2 circles as the "Lamar supercell".  It actually was the large, heavy-precipitation spawn of a merger between initially distinct northern and southern supercells.  The northern storm took over, its mesocyclonic cycling continuing as manifest by the large, low-hanging wall clouds that it kept … [Read more...]

Supercell and Sticknet

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By now, a supercell that already had produced a tornado in another state had been well-sampled by the 2009 crews of the V.O.R.T.EX.-2 project.  Yet, with persistence and favorable road alignments, they followed along, sampling the air mass all around with a myriad of methods, including one of a series of "StickNet" devices.  These were, in effect, portable weather stations residing on heavy-duty … [Read more...]

Cumulus Humilis and Cloud Shadows over Painted Desert

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Cumulus humilis clouds that texture the big sky of northeastern Arizona also dapple shifting shadows across the rolling red and white badland layers of the Painted Desert, rendering a richly variegated landscape of depth, hue and light. 6 NNE Adamana AZ (1 Aug 17) Looking NE 35.0811, -109.7834 … [Read more...]

Monument Valley Summer Overcast

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Monument Valley is one of the most-photographed natural wonders of the world, and for good reason.  It's next to impossible to get a unique shot here anymore.  That said, I caught it in a seldom-photographed scenario: summertime high-sun overcast from the remnants of elevated morning convection.  Rain can be seen in the background middle and left, while altostratus at right blended into bases of … [Read more...]