SkyPix

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

Half Fog

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Olympic National Park was serving up another classical Pacific Northwest treat from its bounteous smorgasbord of natural wonders.  Sea fog, rolling from the Pacific into the edge of this oceanside forest, covered half the view looking up from the beach.  Bright afternoon sun diffused through the fog, at upper left.  The atmospheric process was simple as can be, but the uncommon and beautiful scene … [Read more...]

Marine Stratocumulus

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Late one brisk autumn afternoon, onshore flow from the cool Atlantic brought fuzzy stratocumulus clouds onshore to northern Cape Cod.  The stable boundary layer supporting these clouds mixed and dried slightly as it crossed the still relatively warm inland areas of the peninsula, allowing late-day sunshine to illuminate the beach. 3 NE Truro MA (5 Oct 4) Looking E 42.0047, -70.0235 … [Read more...]

Tornadic Mini-Supercell

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This was the shortest distance I've covered on any tornado intercept to date, yet it was one of the most difficult.  Driving through a hilly and forested part of eastern Oklahoma City's suburbs, in attempt to at least keep astern of a fast moving storm, we had to stop at no fewer than 90% of possible traffic signals enroute.  With daylight fading, that frustrating entanglement cost us any hope of … [Read more...]

Southern Sky Mammatus

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As if offering visually soothing condolences, the atmosphere rewarded the eyes with a briefly but brilliantly illuminated mammatus field, at the end of an otherwise long and rather frustrating storm-intercept day.  A sky profusely festooned with champagne-toned cloud protuberances took the edge off and made the short drive back to Norman a little more tolerable. 3 SSW Watonga OK (18 May 17) … [Read more...]

Newly Glaciated Cb, Sedona

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The processes responsible for this seemingly innocuous little cumulonimbus, so young and frail in appearance, led indirectly to a photogenic downburst, a beautiful sunset and lightning over eight hours later and 150 miles to the west.  What caused all those dominoes to fall?  The answer is in our fascinating and active atmosphere.  More such storms would form in the high country between Sedona and … [Read more...]

Desert Mountain Crawler

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Following a pleasant sunset, time exposure maximizes both ambient, dim twilight and the reflected glow of in-cloud flashes, the combination casting an eerie light across the rugged western Arizona landscape near the Colorado River and Nevada line.  A single cloud-to-air "crawler" discharge illuminates the background sky and punctuates the middle of the scene nicely.  I stayed in the vehicle for … [Read more...]