SkyPix

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

Through the Back Side

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This is a rather unconventional spotting angle for a rotating wall cloud:  to its WNW, standing in the sunlight behind the mesocyclone, peering through the rear portion of the hook and its wrapping curtains of rain.  In the hilly crosstimbers forest of east-central Oklahoma, one takes advantage of any possible viewing vantage that's safe! Fortunately the precipitation was thin enough (for now) to … [Read more...]

Rotating Bowl

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Despite the lack of road options in the area, some of my favorite supercells on the Great Plains are those that roll off the Laramie Range in June upslope events and churn across southeastern Wyoming.  Whether for tornadoes, structure, hail, great sunsets or any and all of the above, they seldom fail to impress and inspire wonder.  This ill-tempered bull of a storm was no exception.   It drifted … [Read more...]

Keyhole Char

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Just a few steps from the "Recovery Log", the badly charred skeleton of a tree trunk still stood—perhaps the victim of a more recent conflagration.  The window through its charcoal jacket looks to the less-burnt but still mortally wounded trees beyond, and the young, green growth that truly springs up from the ashes. Yellowstone National Park WY (14 Sep 13) Looking SE 44.5039, … [Read more...]

Hettinger Hailer

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As it receded away from us, a multicell cumulonimbus became brilliantly sunlit, from the mammatus-festooned and backsheared anvil down to flanking towers and the hail-laden precipitation cores.  The storm had dumped copious volumes of small hail along its path near Hettinger, but none too damaging.  Small amounts of drifted hail still can be seen in the plow rows of the foreground field.  The … [Read more...]

Yst i-Rjukandi, Icelandic Highlands

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A short hike through some open stiles and up a hill led us to this oasis of beauty and serenity, tumbling in stages off a basalt plateau on Iceland's eastern highlands.  This is a waterfall much like its name,  not very long but intricately structured.  Fortunately one does not have to pronounce "Yst i-Rjukandi" correctly to witness the marvel!  Nearly on the opposite end of the island from … [Read more...]

Sinter Slaying

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The culprit in this arboreal murder mystery is rather obvious:  hot, mineralized water, depositing sinter in layers upon the ground around the tree, smothering its roots.  The result was the demise of the tree, but a starkly beautiful scene in a land of continual, fluid change and geologic instability. Yellowstone National Park, WY (20 Sep 13) Looking NNE 44.5509, -110.8062 … [Read more...]