SkyPix

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

Hail Flood

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Upper Dugout Creek gathered a large mass of both rain and hail that fell from a memorable supercell, then washed down assorted local drainages.  Since hail is ice, it floats, and was carried downstream by the overflowing creek, intermingling with assorted plant material and other detritus along the way.  The resulting mixed-composition drifts washed up along the edges of the flash flood, which … [Read more...]

Sunset Sail off the Kona Coast

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Calm Pacific seas and a Hawaiian sunset:  what better way to close the day?   The warm scene of tropical sailing evokes calm, peace and serenity—states of being so direly needed in the rushed world of social media and continual distraction.  My request, therefore, is simple:  study this image, then close your eyes for a few moments and imagine the mild ocean breeze and the … [Read more...]

Rainbow Falls, Big Island

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This lovely, 80-ft plunge of the Wailuku River drains water runoff from both Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea lava flows, and feeds a turquoise pool surrounded by lush tropical greenery of the Big Island's eastern (windward) slopes.  Even at only 28 miles, this is Hawaii's longest river, and follows a steep gradient from the east slopes of Mauna Kea to Hilo Bay.  A small, accessory cascade also can be seen … [Read more...]

Downward-Pointing Crepusculars

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We often see crepuscular rays with an apparent upward aim.  In this case, the chunky young anvil from a nascent supercell spread across that part of the sky containing the sun, part of which can be seen through a hole in the cloud.  As with other crepusculars, the rays actually are parallel, but seem to spread away from each other due to a bit of optical trickery:  our brain's (or the camera's) … [Read more...]

Electric Loop

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During the trip to see the total solar eclipse, and on the day we left Oklahoma, I closed out a fine travel day by intercepting an elevated, nighttime storm over the Platte River.   It prolifically flung cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-air lightning, including countless loops from cloud to air to cloud, of various sizes and shapes.  Five months before, we had used this infrequently traveled bridge to … [Read more...]

Golden Streaks

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One of the advantages of night shifts in the office park is seeing quiet sunrises from high atop, when time permits a quick break to zip on up.  Fortunately that was the case here, as two rooftop observers were blessed with this sight:  a streaky plume of convective cirrus, producing a small mammatus belt and trailing virga across the northeastern sky, spotlit by a slit of sunlight evading cloud … [Read more...]