SkyPix

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

Mammatus over Downtown Kansas City

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The KC skyline frames a fiery display of mammatus.  At the time of the photo, the supercell spawning the mammatus was also producing a killer tornado with F2-rated damage, 58 miles NNW of the photo site.  This storm is the subject of a pictorial display at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman OK.  Nearly a year later, another amazing mammatus-festooned sunset display unfurled across the sky, seen … [Read more...]

Coast Light

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From the log-strewn sands of Ruby Beach, out across the chilled vastness of North Pacific waters, breaks among marine-layer stratocumulus cloud formations allowed shafts of sunlight to reach the water's surface, offering mesmerizing scenes of tranquility and reflection such as this, and captivating dances of spotlighting effects across the seas.  Higher clouds only permitted 15 minutes of this … [Read more...]

The Sculpted Storm

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Other observers described this storm as an "upside down wedding cake" or likened its wild appearance to stacked Frisbees or flying saucers.  For me, over two decades later, it still ranks among the top few most beautiful supercells I have ever seen.  In person the scene was more stunning than ever could be rendered on slide film, with pastel pinks and oranges refracted thru the background … [Read more...]

Cauldron’s Colorful Edge

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Exotic minerals and colorful bacteria combine to form peculiar colorations within and bounding many of Yellowstone's surface geothermal waters.  This was no exception—a bubbling, gurgling cauldron neat the Echinus Geyser where a deep red ochre shade stands out through the steam.  Being directed mostly by hydrothermal processes, the micro-geology of these places changes so quickly that this area … [Read more...]

Forgan LP

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Large, high-based, slowly rotating, this wall cloud menacingly loomed at the bottom of an LP (low-precipitation) supercell near the Oklahoma Panhandle burg of Forgan.  Note the pointed mass of scud, connected to the right underside of the wall cloud.  This "scud cone" was wrongly identified as a tornado by chasers who were viewing it in silhouette, from a greater distance, in the opposite … [Read more...]

Perishing Pileus

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Broad areas of ice crystal condensation around the top of a developing multicellular cumulonimbus create a ghostly effect, as captured by slide film.  This occurred above Oklahoma's narrow Panhandle strip of the High Plains, as the large, marvelous rampart of storm towers pushed up through layers of fuzzy ice-crystal clouds known as pileus. 7 N Turpin OK (4 Jun 96) Looking SE … [Read more...]