SkyPix

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

Piedmont Tornado: After the Merger

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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

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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

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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...]

Supercell Bell

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For just a short time, a supercell that nearly dissipated just a few miles to the west reinvigorated dramatically, assuming this tremendous appearance.  I have seen countless many rotating thunderstorms assume similar cloud forms across every part of the American prairie, and still, each new one is unique in detail, magnetic in its capacity to generate appreciative mindfulness, and unfailingly, … [Read more...]

Vault Strike

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Supercells' vault regions are notorious lightning factories, and this was no exception.  As the storm moved closer, so did the powerful electrical generator located unseen, high above the right side of the view, where intense charge separation was underway on the margins of the tilted mid/upper-level updraft.  This stroke, blasting into a tree in the row about a mile distant, sent me back to the … [Read more...]

Morning Shelfie

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An arcus cloud with your morning coffee?  Thunderstorms to the north sent a cold pool of outflow rushing outward to force up a nocturnally cooled near-surface layer of air, rendering this beautiful formation to start the day.   The outflow at the surface extended miles past the shelf cloud, as evident in the stiff breeze whipping the flags, and revealing the shallow slope of the whole stable-layer … [Read more...]