SkyPix

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

Ice Street

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Although the storm was far worse over eastern Oklahoma, Norman wasn't spared the frigid treachery of a mix of sleet and freezing rain in January 2007.  Neighborhood streets, which typically are not sanded or salted there, became impassible to most vehicles for several days after main roads were navigable again.  This one actually was more navigable the day following the precipitation than for two … [Read more...]

From the Top Deck

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A high-based but severe thunderstorm to the SW cast a virga-dropping anvil overhead, while one thin band of cloud material bisected the view of the setting sun.  The scene assumed a deeply warm glow, dazzling and delighting a group of meteorology students gathered on the National Weather Center's top-floor observation deck.  Some of them said this was the best sunset they had seen.  … [Read more...]

Sunlit Tube

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We headed eastward out of Sulphur with dual purposes:  to track the remains of that storm's massive and violent tornado and to decide on whether to attempt intercept of a newer supercell well to its southeast.  With the Sulphur supercell weakening, we stopped at a T-intersection to strategize and weigh options.  Suddenly this tornado materialized out of a small, ragged updraft between the two … [Read more...]

Wet Tornado Roaring off Road

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By the time it was finishing its rampage across US-177, the Sulphur tornado had become a wet, diffuse, yet still intensely destructive and loudly roaring vortex, with no sharply defined visual edges.  The hail- and debris-flinging RFD pivoted around to a west-northwesterly alignment without as many embedded flying objects as in the minute prior.   Heavy rain would continue to encircle the tornado … [Read more...]

Fiery Front Range Sunset

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The last rainy vestiges of a dying storm cast the setting sun's warm glow across a mountainous landscape.  Many late-spring and summer days feature afternoon eruptions of high-based thunderstorms over the Colorado Front Range, leaving behind cloud debris that beautifies and imparts rich textures to the sky.   On this day, the storms went up late, thanks to a reasonably strong cap above the moist … [Read more...]

Bear in the Cage

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Although a gust front was wrapped well out ahead of the mesocyclone, which itself was enclosed in a cage of rain and hail, somehow enough unstable air still was available to permit a tornado to persist within, the figurative bruin of "bear's cage" storm-chaser slang.  I've posted a zoom taken shortly beforehand; and this wide-angle view was the last act before heading out of the way of both the … [Read more...]