SkyPix

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

Flag o’the Flow 4

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[Part 4 of 4] Following the passage of the gust front, the squall line raged forth with sustained winds above 50 mph and, at the nearby airport,  hurricane-force gusts that broke tree limbs, even in a place well accustomed to intense winds from thunderstorms and other causes.  This caused the lowest of the two flags, directly in front of a car wash where I was sheltering, to stand up horizontally … [Read more...]

Flag o’the Flow 3

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[Part 3 of 4] Just before I jumped into safe harbor (now unseen to the right) to avoid an atmospheric hosing, the squall line's shelf cloud raced overhead and eastward, from right to left, while the flag stood up in the outflow winds.  Very shortly thereafter, heavy rain and severe gusts hit, validating my decision to just let this maelstrom pass overhead from the relatively safe shelter of a … [Read more...]

Flag o’the Flow 2

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[Part 2 of 4] A quintessential Great Plains sky of doom descends upon the burg of Hill City, which is no stranger to such things.  The northerly winds in the inflow region calmed as the immediate edge of the more intense outflow air (gust front)  hit, just ahead of the striking arcus cloud.  Within less than one minute, the entire shelf would move overhead, issuing its own version of a "shelter … [Read more...]

Flag o’the Flow 1

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[Part 1 of 4] What had been a "Pioneer's Nightmare" of a sky near Colby, raging east to menace Hoxie, targeted Hill City next with its most severe winds yet.  That was despite some northerly, cool outflow from a bowing segment to the north (hence, the flag blowing southward) that would seem to stabilize things and temper gust potential a bit.  Regardless, lift was strong enough with this storm … [Read more...]

Dusty Inflow near Radium

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This dryline-fired supercell was in a transition stage, moving into only slightly destabilized and modified outflow air from a large complex of thunderstorms that swept across Kansas earlier in the afternoon.   Instead of weakening, or becoming completely elevated, this storm hung on in a fine balance, with just enough airmass modification, via warm advection and weak diurnal heating, to keep it … [Read more...]

Rush Sparks and Flash Flood 1

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This show capped a long but fruitful, three-episode day of storm observing.  After I puttered around a late-morning/early-afternoon storm complex and its surging outflow in central Kansas, north and northwest of Wichita, some messy, partially surface-based, mid/late-afternoon supercells (and their outflow-dominant progeny) erupted on the dryline and moved into a somewhat modified western part of … [Read more...]