SkyPix

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

Dragging a Dust Plume

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After the brief but scenic Phillips tornado had spun its way north of the highway and dissipated, a second tornado developed from the same mesocyclone. At first, this one similarly left a long gap between condensation funnel and small debris cloud.  That soon changed in a major way as it got closer.   In the meantime, however, a dense plume of non-rotating dust rose off nearby plowed fields south … [Read more...]

Panhandle Power

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After peaking in width, the Canadian (TX) tornado gradually narrowed but still presented a stout appearance at this stage.  Tornado size does not necessarily offer any insight into intensity.  In fact, assuming the mass flux through the vortex changes little or none, a tornado can strengthen as it narrows, due to conservation of angular momentum.  Because this tornado occurred mostly over scrubby, … [Read more...]

Pastels Paint the Plains

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Although the western sky provided some bright sunset colors, my attention was more drawn to the eastern view, scuddy with pockets of light rain, filled for just a fleeting moment with a soothing interplay of pastel reflections in land and sky, hues both cool and warm blending together in a serene mosaic with the smells and sounds of a freshly wet landscape.  The chorus of thousands of frogs … [Read more...]

Brule Blow

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A bountiful storm-intercept day concluded with an outflow-surfing, heavy-precipitation storm driving a multi-tiered shelf cloud before it, as if snowplowing the moist and unstable air it consumed.  Shortly after sunset, the marvelous pastels of twilight emerged above and along the formation.  This manner of subtle yet somewhat surreal front-lighting is why early twilight is one of my favorite … [Read more...]

Big Bend Discharge

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  Late May usually is a hot time down in Big Bend country, but an active southern-stream pattern that flooded much of the southern Plains kept the southwest Texas deserts well-soaked also.   The back side of one of the responsible storm clusters sliced the sky with this lightning bolt, after its other end ran us off the Rio Grande. 26 ESE Terlingua TX (21 May 15) Looking … [Read more...]

Twisted Perspective

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Quite simply, this was one of the most stunning supercells I've ever witnessed.  That's saying something, out of many hundreds overall and at least a couple dozen that offered mesmerizing, jaw-dropping structure.  Given that this was a wide-angle view, a substantial fraction of the sky appeared to be spiraling upward into the lofty netherworlds.   A jury selected this image for exhibit at the 2015 … [Read more...]