SkyPix

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

Wall or Shelf Cloud?

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[Part 1 of 4] A shelf cloud developed in piecemeal fashion as a high-based supercell became outflow dominant.  The low-pressure area internal to the storm still was forcing rotation—in this case, of that ragged cloud lowering.  If that feature looks like it can't make up its mind whether to be a wall cloud or a shelf cloud, there is good reason.  It was rotating, but also, being undercut by cold … [Read more...]

Virga Blow

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Traveling from one dying set of storms in Colorado to another still getting organized in the Oklahoma Panhandle, we passed by this high-based shell of a former supercell that had drifted out of northeastern New Mexico.  Scenic but devoid of substantial convective structure, we didn't want to linger long with this storm; in fact, this shot was courtesy of being stuck behind a stoppage of traffic in … [Read more...]

Scud Stogie

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Back in our NSSL field project days in 1989, Rich Thompson coined the term "Scud Cigar," a.k.a. Scud Stogie, for these kinds of elongated, often rather smooth and cigar-like, low-level cloud masses.  [It seemed as if outflow was all we saw storms produce for most of that year, so we got good at watching it and nicknaming its effects.]  A specialized but common variety of fractocumulus, stogies … [Read more...]

Berglet

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A small iceberg floats in an Alaskan glacial fjord, accompanied by smaller pieces of ice.  The stark coldness of the scene was accented visually under foggy and overcast skies, the water tinged with fine silt.  Yes, the black spots are supposed to be there.  Each consists of clumps of ground-up rock and muddy ice, entrained into the glacier as it scoured its way down the valley to the sea.  As the … [Read more...]

Reflections of Downtown Portland

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Portland's tallest structures reflect their night lights nicely off the Willamette River.  Some of what appears to be fog really was, as cooling temperatures layer lowered the condensation level right down to the waterline.  Some of it was smoke from fires set to cars and structures downtown by rioters displeased with the election results, as well as from flash-bang devices used by the cops to … [Read more...]

Classic Oklahoma Tornado

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After a spectacular pre-tornadic display of storm structure, the mature Dover tornado passed just over a mile to my south.  It destroyed a barn and several stands of trees during this stage; pieces of them were swirling around in the debris fan.  No rain or hail fell at my location during the tornado's passage from southwest thru southeast.  Unlike in many tornadic supercells, the precipitation … [Read more...]