SkyPix

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

Sunset Rainbows behind Whale’s Mouth

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As a high-based supercell merged with a growing cluster of convection to its NE, I went to the back side of its tail end to catch the sunset, and got a double rainbow too.  What a spectacle it was, still just inside the edge of a backbuilding rear-flank core, with moderate rain all around, yet the "whale's mouth" texture of the gust front's arcus cloud still visible through the precip.  The light … [Read more...]

Classic Tornado through Rain

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This beautiful tornado was so long-lived (over half an hour) and slow-moving that I was able to view it from a few different vantages and distances, beginning with the farthest but fullest perspective of the whole supercell.  Here, several miles closer and using a zoom lens, the structures are so fascinating!  Within the inner rim of the forward-flank core containing moderate rain but only small … [Read more...]

Big Supercell with a Flaw

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  With a remarkably similar storm-relative view as another supercell a month earlier, I was not as confident in the tornado potential of this one anytime soon.  As beautiful and well-built as this storm appears, one problem became evident as son as the base came into view.  It was relatively flat, fuzzy and elongated, without a substantial tail cloud extending into the forward-flank core … [Read more...]

Elevated or Not?

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Yes, this isn't the most photogenic scene; in fact, part of it is downright ugly (more below).  Yet this was one of the most fascinating supercell processes I've seen in some time.  Supercell?  Absolutely!  Even though the visible part of the cloud base is rather fuzzy and ragged, and the usual bands and tails ill-defined at best, there was a supercell updraft with strong low- to middle-level … [Read more...]

First North Platte “Spout”

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One of a pair of multicells, that we had been observing south through southwest of North Platte, became dominant with a large updraft base, and started to produce nonmesocyclonic "landspout" tornadoes.  This was the first of several, exactly how many being uncertain due to distance, continuity and the diffuse character of some of them.  Crucial question:  "Did a new one form in the same area, or … [Read more...]

Eastern Mammatus

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Opposite the sky of interest, sometimes comes a sky of interest.  If too fixated on the updraft region of the two large multicells that made this anvil (one of which soon would produce "landspouts" and later become supercellular), one might miss a show like this over the fabled Lincoln Highway.  Even when nontornadic, it's wise to keep one's head on a swivel, not only for safety and awareness … [Read more...]