SkyPix

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

Benchakitti Reflective

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A nice array of skyscraper designs lines the reflective light path across the main lake of Bangkok's Benchakitti Park.  In an urban area with miles of high-rises in every direction, where their number may top a thousand, the cityscape as a whole presents as a chaotic and disorganized melange of architectural randomness, having no identity whatsoever.  Within the massive mess of the whole, it's … [Read more...]

LP Supercell and Tornado

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Uncommonly yet spectacularly, a marvelously formed, low-precipitation (LP) supercell spun up a tornado, and one at least temporarily fully condensed from ground to cloud.  This was one of two distinct tornadoes the storm produced from the same cloud-base circulation, which according to closer observers and the NWS survey, temporarily disconnected from apparent ground contact for a few minutes … [Read more...]

Close Crossing

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This is a chaotic image because that was a chaotic experience.  Even though the "Bell City" tornado was small, it was intensifying and moving almost at us at over 50 mph in straight transnational speed, so we had to get south enough for safety as it crossed the road with a robust, audible whoosh, about 1/2 to 1/3 mile behind us.  A strong spray of rain in the proximal rear-flank/occlusion … [Read more...]

Mesocyclone Blast

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This big, complex, highly electrified, heavy-precip supercell had formed over my head in eastern Amarillo and dropped 4+ inch hail in Palo Duro Canyon.  It dutifully blasted a cloud-to-ground lightning strike through a mesocyclonic updraft base on the east flank, and clearly meant serious business.  Still, the suspicious feature at distant left, behind the clump of trees, was a dense rainshaft—not … [Read more...]

Starter Tornado

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Despite living in Missouri for over 3 years in the mid 1990s, and chasing there many times since, this was my first tornado in the state, in a part I hadn't visited before.  This view samples the first minute or two of the first of several tornadoes produced by the parent supercell.  Tightly rotating dust rose quickly to the broad condensation funnel aloft, confirming unambiguously what this was.  … [Read more...]

Texas Supercell and Wildflowers

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Moving south-southeastward from the southeastern Great Plains to the “Palo Pinto Mountains” (a northern extension of the Hill Country, but with much older limestone more common to eastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri), this strengthening supercell provided multiple opportunities to witness its splendid structure behind quintessential Texas foregrounds.  Here, a field of native prairie … [Read more...]