SkyPix

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

Salt Particle Reflections

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On a midsummer's high noon, almost precisely 24 hours before the landfall of Hurricane Dennis at this very spot, the calm water belied the tumult that soon would unfold.  Hints luked.  Beaches were strangely devoid of the usual collection of fishermen, old couples strolling the strandline, kids with sand buckets, alluring young women in flip-flops and bikinis, and the frisbee-tossing, … [Read more...]

Outflow Eruption

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Following the passage of a strong gust front, the turbulent textures of a "whale's mouth" formation offer the moving illusion of a rolling boil, a perspective made even more striking when the formation brackets a volcanic mountain in the High Plains of northeastern New Mexico,  giving the eruptive appearance a geological foundation.  Even though a superficial glance makes it appear the cloud … [Read more...]

Sedona Strike

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On my first travel day in Arizona, and after an afternoon in Petrified Forest, I wheeled over to Sedona to meet Dave Blanchard for a brief bit of desert-storm photography in the sunset hour.  This was the best of a few lightning discharges we caught from a brief, elevated storm that went up behind a late-afternoon complex, and in a most scenic setting!  My short experience of Sedona was unusual:  … [Read more...]

Sabinoso Supercell

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Intercepting a supercell in mid-August in New Mexico—why not?  While wrapping up a southwestern storm, photo and hiking trip, I noticed that a narrow, mesoscale belt of enhanced mid/upper-level northwesterly winds, southwest of a shortwave trough over the central Plains, would pass across this part of the state during the afternoon.  My first August supercell on the Great Plains did not … [Read more...]

Don’t Fence Me In!

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This northwest-flow supercell formed just a few miles to my west in the Sangre de Cristo foothills, while I was pumping gas in Springer.  This made the target storm self-evident.  After peeling of the mountains, it churned along a 5-hour southeastward odyssey toward Tucumcari, offering occasionally marvelous looks not normally expected from New Mexico in August.  Here, a downburst and accompanying … [Read more...]

Sparks over New Mexico Ranch

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Where the High Plains meet the extinct volcanoes of northeastern New Mexico, an electrified sky crackled its warning of impending danger to outdoor safety, while also offering a welcomed message: notice of soaking rain for a thirsty landscape.  The wind-beaten old cottonwood tree likely owes its lifespan to overflow and leaks from the windmill's water-storage tank. 6 SE Grenville NM (30 Jul 17) … [Read more...]