SkyPix

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

Reflections of Pictured Rocks

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Combine spectacular sandstone cliffs of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, late afternoon summer sunlight shining right onto their faces, and unusually placid waters of Lake Superior, and this is the result.  Even in the tranquility of this moment, the deadly bitter cold and pounding ferocity of wintertime's worst weather—the sort of "gales of November" that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald not far east … [Read more...]

Altostratus Slate Sky over Bighorns Wildflowers

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In the twilight hour, an altostratus deck in the southwestern sky darkened the distant countryside under a shadowy slate hue, leaving most of the evening glow to shine down from the north and east upon the near foreground:  a thick carpet of arrowleaf balsamroot and lupines.  We were glad to be in this time and place, not just to photograph unusual evening light, but to experience a bountiful … [Read more...]

The Caged Bear

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After spawning the Sargent tornado, this supercell underwent a metamorphosis that is common, but still striking—from classic to HP (heavy precipitation) appearance.  The next mesocyclone developed a broad, loose cloud-base circulation that spun slowly for half an hour, trudging along toward the town of Comstock (several miles beyond the low hill in this photo).  That circulation then intensified, … [Read more...]

Splitting Colorful Crepusculars

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After a disappointing storm day, when we seemed to either pick each "wrong" storm or miss each "right" one, the atmosphere offered a small consolation in the form of yet another unique sunset scene.  "Unique" may be a paradoxical adjective for sunsets, since all properly are described as such; in sunset scenes, uniqueness is ubiquitous!  Regardless of semantic pretzel-twisting, the splitting of … [Read more...]

Bags of Gold

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Several nearby supercells and a short squall line had merged into a rainy mess, with an "anchor storm" far down on the southern end and out of reach.  [The backsheared anvil and overshooting top from that storm is at distant lower right in this plate.]  When the active intercept was done, we had two options:  give up and head to Lubbock for dinner and lodging, or go west of the slop first for a … [Read more...]

Stratus in the Trans-Pecos

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One scene is not often associated with far southwest Texas:  lush wildflowers and moist, low stratus clouds!  On this pleasantly cool morning, both carpeted this corner of the Chihuahuan desert in abundance, the cloud deck supplemented by moist air rising on Elephant Mountain.   Later the same day, storms would fire in Mexico and move across the nearby Big Bend National Park, and like this, would … [Read more...]