SkyPix

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

Stuck Astern

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After this supercell produced several tornadoes, including one classic cone, it jumped flanks and leapfrogged southeastward into a road void, the hail core and hook blocking  our only east and southeast options, leaving us on the back side with no safe paths suitable for getting back to the front before dark.  Thus restrained logistically, and satisfied with what we had seen, we simply admired the … [Read more...]

Little Orphan Anvils

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One fine early afternoon near a dryline-outflow intersection, two "Little Orphan Anvils" appeared.  These ice-crystal formations were spit into the sky from a pair of small towering cumuli, each of which glaciated, briefly becoming a tiny single-cell cumulonimbus before dissipating.  Though individual members are usually doomed to die from dry air entrainment, concentrations of such "orphans" and … [Read more...]

Millsap: Early Spinup

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In between a well-structured supercell show and its most long-lived and well-defined tornado, a broad wall cloud under the Millsap supercell developed an area of tight cloud-base rotation that evolved into a persistent funnel cloud.  When scud began coiling off the ground amidst occasional dust puffs, this first tornado of the series was evident. 2 NW Brock TX (15 May 13) Looking WNW 32.7004, … [Read more...]

Reflective Winter Sunrise: Redux

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Nearly a year after shooting my first 2015 sunrise from within a few feet of the same spot, 2016's inaugural gallery entry arrives with a different and equally beautiful form.  This time, I caught the coloration earlier, in a wondrously brilliantly magenta-tinged stage, and as a year ago, made no adjustment whatsoever to the saturation setting!  The gray film on the far side of the pond is thin … [Read more...]

Cumulus Mediocris, Everglades

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Benign but mildly sheared cumulus clouds drift placidly over the Everglades—Florida's little estuarine version of the Great Plains.  While living in Miami, I made many short trips westward into the River of Grass, finding a large element of the same solace and immersion in the spaciousness of sky as I would during springtime sojourns to the high plains.   John Anderson's Seminole Wind plays in my … [Read more...]

Limited-Access Highway

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The sigh told the truth, but not for the intended reason.  Travel off and on US-71 (since upgraded to I-49) was restricted by floodwaters from the Marais des Cygnes River, rising to near-record crests, and covering farm after farm, and inundating many secondary roads such as the one crossing the center of the photograph. 4 N Rich Hill MO (9 Jul 93) Looking SSE 38.1665, -94.3532 … [Read more...]