SkyPix

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

The Ray of Hope

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A big, bright crepuscular ray with fainter, adjoining, smaller ones, formed between towering cumulus along the dryline in northeastern Kansas.  Major supercells 450 miles to the north, in the eastern Dakotas, produced violent "wedge" tornadoes this day; but they were far out of reach for me.  Still, the scene and this image that preserves it have served as a spiritually inspiring metaphor for me … [Read more...]

Red Glow under the Dark Deck

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Sunset looked like it would be basically a non-event, until a sliver of clearing pried opened along the western horizon just in time.  This deep zoom cuts directly across the miles at light's speed, plunging straight into the distant, deep reds lining an altostratus deck's fringe, pulling out and hauling back a tone reddened even more by passage to the lens.  Peak color lasted less than … [Read more...]

Rain Foot

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When precipitation cores hit the ground, some of it spreads outward along the edges, forming a flared bottom, also known in storm observers' lingo as a "rain foot."  Rapidly moving ones—especially if they raise scud clouds or dust, or are accompanied by power flashes—signal damaging downbursts.  In this case, however, the foot was kicking only slowly, and the outward rush of winds away from the … [Read more...]

Sunset Cirrus, Contrail and Sun Pillar

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For a meteorologist and sky aficionado, few events are more leasing than a wonderfully colorful sunset packed with fascinating weather elements.  Not only did a long-lasting contrail crisscross the scene with its varying thickness and light-shadow effects, but a faint sun pillar developed as well (up and down the middle of the shot).  Meanwhile, distant cirrus assumed a brilliant yellowish glow, … [Read more...]

Contrail

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Condensation trails (contrails, for short) form as very hot, relatively moisture-rich air from jet exhaust cools and decompresses rapidly amidst surrounding, much colder and low-pressure air at high altitudes.  Moisture in the exhaust plume condenses into ice crystals that linger for varying amounts of time, depending on humidity and winds in the surrounding air.  Drier air will evaporate the … [Read more...]

Sunset through Core

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An otherwise uneventful storm-observing day ended in an unexpectedly beautiful way, with the warm glows of the setting sun diffused through a rain core just dense enough to smudge the orb, but not to obscure it.  Underneath, only a distant center-pivot irrigator and a small, solitary tree broke the flat plane of the High Plains.  As long as there is no hail within (and there wasn't), this is a … [Read more...]