SkyPix

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

Splitting Storm: Part 2

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See Part 1 for an earlier stage of the storm-splitting process, as seen from the same spot.  In this case, the resulting mirror-image supercells both survived; but as usually happens, the right split had access to stronger storm-relative inflow and shear, and lasted longer.  Another (cyclonic) supercell would develop from the separate anvil cloud in the distant left, becoming our primary target … [Read more...]

Splitting Storm: Part 1

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Many supercells split, especially early in their lifetimes.  The faint but growing crack in the cloud material, above a small rain core and the center of the storm's collective base, reveals this.  Even though this storm started small, it had no problem dividing itself in two like some giant protozoan, thanks to surrounding winds that supported both leftward and rightward moving storms. The … [Read more...]

Outflow through an Outhouse

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One round of outflow already had whistled through this forlorn and forgotten little latrine, courtesy of an HP supercell passage north of here and into the Little Snowy Range.  Here comes another!  The majesty of the land and sky of central Montana, where the Great Plains and the northern Rockies intersperse in a topographic tapestry nearly as complex as the atmosphere above, belies the simple and … [Read more...]

Earth Shadow

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Earth does cast a shadow through space; and it starts in the atmosphere.  It can be seen every clear day just after sunset, and just before sunrise, creating a sandwich effect.  The pinks are outside the shadow—hues of the setting sun refracted through the western sky before being reflected off upper-atmospheric particles in the east.  Since the shadow below has no direct sunlight, it is missing … [Read more...]

Squall Line in the Wichita Mountains

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Outflow is supposed to be the ultimate enemy of the storm chaser, but it can be quite beautiful!  Here, the turbulent underside of an arcus cloud passes over the Wichita Mountains of southwest Oklahoma, with the precipitation core of a squall line visible in the background.  The bright green fields of early May and the taupe-toned, partly scrub-covered Cambrian granite of the worn-out old … [Read more...]