SkyPix

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

Storm Tails

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Tail clouds are appendages at least loosely resembling tails attached to thunderstorms, and are not rotating and not tornadic.  They can move rapidly horizontally and/or vertically, however.  Tail clouds also can occur at all levels, but usually in low to lower/middle parts, such as those seen here as the "Black Hills supercell" as the storm crawled south-southeastward across the southern fringes … [Read more...]

Cirrus Uncinus, Large

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A strikingly large and outstanding specimen of uncinus (mare's tail cirrus) sweeps across the Pacific offshore from the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula, framed by chunks of cirrus fibratus and some old beach logs.  This cloud seemed to scream, adamantly and irresistibly, for a photo.  It was distinctly different from any uncinus I had seen before, not only in its size and delicate beauty but … [Read more...]

Canadian (Texas) Rope-Out

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Mercifully for those menaced, the gradually narrowing Canadian tornado finally dissipated with this last ropy cloud stage, no more debris evident hereafter.  A new wall cloud and associated mesocyclone, partially seen developing to the right, would rotate for a spell but produce no tornadoes.  A separate storm later merged with the slowly ENE-moving Canadian supercell, the combined updraft region … [Read more...]

Black Hills Supercell

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Rising up to about 4,000 ft above the base elevation at Rapid City, the Black Hills actually are a low mountain range that initiates thunderstorms regularly in the spring and summer before the surrounding High Plains.  This happens in two main ways: 1.  Upslope lift of a moist boundary layer, especially in an east or northeast wind (which also lengthens shear vectors to favor supercells under any … [Read more...]

Electrical Question

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"Anvil zips" flash across the sky above a low/middle-level cloud deck, while distant cloud-to-ground strokes accompany a tornadic storm located over the southeast side of Wichita.  This sort of filamentous lightning flickers frequently along the underside of many supercells' anvils, just above and beyond their vault regions.  Here, one of the filaments bears a loose resemblance to a question … [Read more...]

Double Rainbow, North Dakota

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We found this double-arching optical gem while penetrating the back fringes of a storm whose entire western side later would come alive with light and beauty across the western Dakota sky.  Colors in the outer rainbow always are reversed in order from those of the main arc, and are dimmer, because the light has been double-reflected off the inside of drops before escaping to reach our … [Read more...]