SkyPix

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

Prismatic Eye

By

A product of a sci-fi CGI creator during a journey through mind-altering substances?  Hardly!  Instead, the cause of this marvelous effect was rather ordinary: a motel-door peephole breaking the early-morning sunshine into its component colors and shining the result on the otherwise dark room's far wall.  I didn't awaken expecting to break out the camera this soon, indoors, on an intended … [Read more...]

Mackinac Bridge at Sunset

By

Michigan's "Mighty Mac" silhouettes the auburn hues of light scattered across the northern sky from the setting sun. Half a century old the year of this photograph, the Mackinac Bridge, carrying I-75 and connecting the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, still is one of the lengthiest suspension bridges in the world, and longer between anchorages than the Golden Gate Bridge. Mackinaw City MI (17 Jul 7) … [Read more...]

Wyoming Elevated Supercell

By

This beautifully formed storm was elevated atop not only its own outflow, but that of earlier storms that had developed over the region and moved northeastward over the Black Hills.  Nevertheless, it persisted—drawing inflow from a thin layer of favorably buoyant air above the relatively cool, stable boundary layer.  Soon, however, that inflow aloft would be pinched off by the deepening cold pool, … [Read more...]

Piedmont Tornado: After the Merger

By

Earlier, pre-U.S.-81 stages of the long-lived El Reno/Piedmont tornado of 2011 weren't visible to me, as we were navigating our way down to this supercell from a nontornadic one to the northwest.  When we set up ahead of it, we saw what turned out to be the physical merger of a shrunken version of the long-lived main tornado with a newer, nearly-as-strong satellite vortex, several miles into the … [Read more...]

White Snake Tornado

By

No, this isn't about the rock band of the '80s to early '90s (whose music was remarkably good).  They were one word.  This is two.  As for the tornado, the cloud portion bears a decidedly serpentine form, right down to the striking head with the open-mouth appearance at the bottom of the condensation funnel.  Yes, this is a true tornado, in contact with ground, as evident in the dust plume below … [Read more...]

Sentinel Shelf and Strokes

By

Even though the "Supercell Bell" had lost much of its supercellular character and turned back east again, what was left of the storm continued to put on a wonderful display as it journeyed through the western Oklahoma twilight, surfing its own outflow and plowing a beautifully banded shelf cloud along.   This "smorgasbord of atmospheric violence" still wasn't done offering its dinner feast!  Two … [Read more...]