SkyPix

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

Elm Springs Blast 1

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The word "blast" here can have two meanings: the intense gusts of outflow soon to hit the filming location, or the electrical discharge brightening the afternoon sky downshear from the main precipitation area of the storm.  In this case, as in the next shot, both interpretations were valid!  This storm had been a weakly organized supercell, but was too high-based to avoid being undercut by its own … [Read more...]

Peculiar Front Light

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This was one of the most strangely structured and beautifully illuminated wall clouds I've seen—a small, high-based but very convective feature.  Occupying a notch or inflection point between the forward- and rear-flank cores, the area slowly rotated but never threatened a tornado.  A great deal of light reflected off the wall cloud arrived from behind me, in the southeastern sky, despite the … [Read more...]

Cold Wash Cycle

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One Icelandic beach of black sand hosts partly melted icebergs that ride there on the Atlantic waves from a nearly freshwater glacial lagoon.  The ice, calved off a tongue of the island's largest glacier, floats about the lake (Jokulsarlon) before melting just enough to fit over the bottom of an outlet channel and float to the sea.  Here is such an ice chunk in twilight, amidst a brief time … [Read more...]

Blown Discharge

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Heavy rain along the rear-flank downdraft of a supercell masked most of the mesocyclone region, but that didn't stop the scene from erupting in a beautiful blast of wind-blown lightning.  It was no coincidence that the discharge's shape seemed to follow the out-rush of air.  Precipitation loading helped the downdraft region to create severe winds, which in turn redirected the invisible, … [Read more...]

Flags in Fog

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In the silent hour before dawn, a cool shroud of cloud swaddled the spotlight-illuminated flagpoles adorning the upper entrance to the National Weather Center.  Fog such as this was rare in Norman in 2012, a strong drought year in which smoke restricted visibility more often than any other phenomenon. Norman OK (17 Nov 12) Looking SSE 35.1824, -97.4401 … [Read more...]

High Cirrus over Glacial Lake

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Yes, cirrus can be beautiful!  This is a large, classical example of cirrus uncinus—otherwise known as "mare's tail"—framing itself handsomely over the cattails and windblown surface of a glacial kettle lake on South Dakota's plains.  The photographic day that began with this marvelous formation concluded with a picturesque sunset supercell, and three other rotating storms in between...all the … [Read more...]