SkyPix

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

Stromsburg Rope-Out

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Less than a full minute elapsed between the tubular phase in the previous shot and the final rope stage shown here.  Even though the visible part of the tornado vortex no longer was connected to the cloud base, it's obvious from ground contact of the condensation vortex, with debris, that a tornado still was (barely) underway.  Even at this final, last-gasp stage, mere seconds from dissipating, it … [Read more...]

Backwards Damage Process

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What's backward about the tornado damage at this site, and how did this happen?  Please stop and ponder this for a few moments, then continue.  The garage door of this small, open-span metal structure tells all you need to know.  The force responsible had to come from within, and the only other entry point for the needed blast of air is the missing roof. [The wall unseen at right was intact, as … [Read more...]

At Glacial Pace

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Alaska's Smith Glacier looms cold and blue in its blanket of mist and fog.  As our vessel drifted quietly across the water through the still, damp air, every groan, creak and crackle of the ice could be heard.  Water flows downhill even in solid form, because under enough pressure, ice starts behaving like a very slow-moving fluid.  Powerful erosion agents, glaciers grab rocks and boulders, then … [Read more...]

High Bases over the High Plains

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Even nonsevere storms under weak shear can add to the grandeur of a High Plains sky, with the southern rim of the Black Hills lining the eastern horizon.  Such did this fascinating multicell formation developing right alongside our travels toward Montana for  future days' supercellular potential.  Occasional crackles of distant thunder reverberated sharply as gunfire across the grasslands, as the … [Read more...]

Fog Isle

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A little island known as Seal Rock rises through sea fog off the northern Olympic Peninsula, as if a rocky vessel adrift in the vapor.  Too small, stony and wind-battered during the cold season for tree growth, the little isle nonetheless gives at least temporary roost for migratory and aquatic birds, and occasionally, bald eagles.  In the background, across the fog-blanketed, unseen Strait of … [Read more...]

Pleasant Evening by the Bighorns

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Following an interesting storm-observing day in the Bighorn Basin and Mountains, a dinner in Buffalo, and a pollen storm unique to our experience, we retreated to our lodging for the evening.  Not yet spent, I went back out for the sunset and was glad of it.  While not lighting the sky and land aflame with mind-bending color intensity, this more subtle, textured sky still satisfied the thirst and … [Read more...]