SkyPix

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

Flash Flood with “Hail Bergs”

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Even on uneven surfaces at high elevation, the right conditions can yield potentially dangerous flash flooding.  Here, a heavy and slow-moving thunderstorm with rain and hail cores training on the back side unleashed a torrent through just a few square miles of uphill drainage and across the highway east of town.  Dry washes became very wet washes in quick order.  "Hail bergs", made of loose … [Read more...]

Valley Stratus

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Rising up a mountain road through the fog and mist, it seemed the cool, quiet and moist stillness, so stereotypically characteristic of the Olympic Mountains, would hold to the very ridge tops and beyond.  Instead we broke out of the top of the stratus deck well below treeline, and hiked around those ridges for a few hours, only to peek over one crest and find that the stratus had risen further … [Read more...]

Steam Fog at Hot Creek

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Frigid wintertime air drifts over the geothermally heated stream sensibly named Hot Creek, drawing steam fog into the air, and depositing hoarfrost on the grasses above the waterline.  The whole area from my position to the mountains in the background, and for several miles behind me, form the surface floor of the Long Valley Caldera, the other major, active volcanic caldera in the U.S. besides … [Read more...]

August Supercell in Oklahoma

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An early-afternoon supercell in central Oklahoma in late summer...why not?  If the conditions are right—in this case, barely enough shear, barely enough buoyancy, and a boundary for lift—the atmosphere can do this, without regard for the calendar.   This was one of several supercells in the area on this day, and perhaps my shortest and most unusual storm chase logistically:  in mid-August, just … [Read more...]

All the Phases

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Water works wondrous ways in wintertime, especially at a place like Mono Lake that often features all three phases of its existence on earth, at once.  We see the forms of solid ice crystals in the snow and the salt-infused lake liquid, and understand the presence of vapor through condensed cloud material.  Different densities of fluid water exist here too, in the form of warm mineral springs on … [Read more...]

Sunset Storm and Moon

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Capturing not only the intensity and hue of a sky, but doing so across its breadth and scope, just isn't possible with even the best of cameras.  Hence, the true sensory volume of the colorful High Plains sunset experience can't be done due justice, except in person.  Of course, having a super wide angle lens can help!  Here, the moon was almost directly overhead.  The sun set just moments before, … [Read more...]