SkyPix

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

A Supercell’s Evening Pastels

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The 30-hour period beginning around 3 p.m. on this day offered two extraordinary storm-chase adventures in the same corridor east-northeast of the Denver metro area and south of I-76—including the next day's Prospect Valley tornado.  This was the fifth of six late-afternoon to evening supercells, and perhaps the most consistently spectacular, in a protracted train of storms rolling out of the … [Read more...]

Annular Eclipse

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Solar eclipses can be viewed with the eye and photographed with an unfiltered camera, but only near sunrise or sunset, no differently than the non-eclipsed sun.  For that reason, the unobstructed view on the High Plains, and its proximity just a few hours from home, the choice of the sunset segment of the 2012 annular eclipse track was obvious.  The only question was cloud cover, which evaporated … [Read more...]

Big Dome

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This storm just had erupted within the previous hour along an old outflow boundary.  Shortly before sunset, it was becoming a supercell at the time it thrust this massive overshooting dome well into the stratosphere.  The supercell had a deep, persistent mesocyclone, but only yielded reports of heavy rain and hail up to the size of golf balls.  Still, its brightly lit form, with secondary anvil … [Read more...]

Tornadic Supercell, Wyoming High Plains

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By this time, the Chugwater tornado clearly was beginning to meet its Chugwaterloo.  Though moving toward us in an absolute sense, it had migrated toward the back of the storm in this wide-angle view, while a new (and ultimately non-tornadic) mesocyclone formed in front middle, with a thin, broken tail cloud to its right.  The tornado had wrapped so much rear-flank and occlusion-downdraft air that … [Read more...]

Underwater Highway

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State road 80 curved gently underneath the excessively lofty water levels of nearby Fort Gibson Reservoir.  Descending downhill on a curve, then driving unaware into this inundation, wouldn't have been such a gentle endeavor!  Fortunately, the road was closed and barricaded about a hundred yards behind the view.  Those who drive around or remove such barricades, just to cut across a flooded route, … [Read more...]