SkyPix

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

Cloud-to-Air Discharge

By

This is a twilight shot of a big, bright, forked, cloud-to-air lightning bolt originating in the vault of a supercell—in this case, an area just NE of the main updraft—an elevated region of rain and large hail occupying the large notch between updraft and downshear anvil.  Intense charge separation happens in this part of supercells, where a large mix of precipitation particles cascades off the … [Read more...]

Twilight Tempest

By

An unusual July chase in an unusual spring storm season:  1993.  Characterized mainly by an extensive and seemingly unrelenting series of flooding rainstorms and convective clusters across the Midwest and east-central Plains, including Kansas and Missouri, the storms of July were a last hurrah—a capstone on a year of flooding and destruction.  This represented a fitting finale:  a late-forming, … [Read more...]

The Sunrise Tree

By

Yet another glorious winter's dawn breaks over a small pond in eastern Norman, one among countless many such bodies of water that dot our state.  The tall tree at left, rooted in the dam of this pond and next to another, frames this among several images shot here over the past few years, mostly after staying up for the dawn in advance of sets of overnight shifts.  I'm slowly building a collection … [Read more...]

Ohanepecosh River Canyon Flood

By

Fast-moving floodwaters just downstream from Silver Falls, fed both by the melting of Mt. Rainier's record-heavy snows and ongoing rainfall, made the Ohanapecosh River roar through its canyon with a booming vibration both heard and felt.  Over millions of years, a non-trivial portion of the volcano's southeast flank will be carried away, right down this gorge.  This short time exposure was shot in … [Read more...]

Day’s End in the Wintertime Woods

By

On a calm, mild, late-winter's evening, pastel tones of the sunset sky filtered through the dense canopy of oak and walnut woods and thorny vines characteristic of the Cross Timbers.  Located in the transition from eastern forests to Great Plains, these woods shelter numerous species of birds.  Even with the somewhat reduced wintertime populations, this was a marvelous time for hearing them, with … [Read more...]

Arboreal Sunset Again

By

Two days after another splendid, banded arboreal sunset, the sky lit up even sooner and brighter, though as usual, uniquely.  Every sunset scene is different simply by virtue of the fluid nature of cloud forms, regardless of the foreground for the shot or the zoom or pan chosen by the photographer.  Here, in addition to the brilliantly lit banding and indigo shadows, a faint sun pillar casts a … [Read more...]