SkyPix

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

Stacks and Logs in Fog

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Fog belongs here. Onshore convergence of the cool, moist Pacific boundary layer condenses the water vapor readily when humidity is high and only slight cooling is needed. Still, aesthetically it lends an aura of mystery and uncertainty to the stacks and the ocean residing beyond, whose waves carved these basalt formations over eons. Strolling just a short distance beyond them transports one … [Read more...]

Non-Supercell Funnels

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Sitting there at a west-facing indoor window, observing growing convective towers on a convergence line and eating tacos, what did I spy with my aging eye, but a funnel cloud? So I dutifully retrieved my cameras, strolled to a vantage, extended that tube-zoom lens way out, and started shooting. The skinnier one to the left lasted several minutes; the one to the right developed near the end of … [Read more...]

High Plains Fog

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In the parlance of aviators, this definitely represents IFR (instrument flight rules) conditions. This air mass lay about 50 miles north of an outflow-reinforced stationary front, a boundary that soon would focus supercells to the south. For now, however, it simply focused fog and sporadic drizzle on its cool side, cloaking one of the many commercial wind farms of the Texas Panhandle. An older, … [Read more...]

School’s Out

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Eight years (minus four days) earlier, Elke and I had noticed this beautifully constructed but long-abandoned schoolhouse, while riding out a hail core and photographing the aftereffects on the back side of the "Aroya Antisupercell". Right then, we decided that if we ever had the opportunity to shoot that schoolhouse in front of a storm, we would. While staying ahead of a severe thunderstorm … [Read more...]

Altocumulus in the Big Sky

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A flock of altocumulus crossing the midday sky represents instability in the middle troposphere, and when low-level conditions are favorable, often portends an active afternoon and/or evening of convection. Indeed, a tremendous, significantly severe supercell, at the tail of a larger storm complex, rolled across the northern tier of Montana into Glasgow late that afternoon. The clouds at lower … [Read more...]

Olympic Mountain Mist

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A day of rain, following a rather long and wildfire-promoting dry spell, gave way to areas of stratus and fractostratus brushing the mountainsides of the northern Olympics. Having been choked in smoke as recently as earlier the same Sunday, these mountains and their inhabitants welcomed the rejuvenating moisture, with drizzle still falling at the late-afternoon hour of this shot. The Elwha River … [Read more...]