SkyPix

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

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...]

Pleasant Little Tornado

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That title is true.  This storm intercept was logistically smooth and conformed well to my pre-departure forecast, with a few positively reinforcing nowcast calls from Elke and from Matt Biddle (pre-"smartphone" era).  Those factors allowed me to drive 250 miles right to the storm initiation zone, then to track visually—with no onboard radar—early towers evolving into a well-structured supercell … [Read more...]

Double-Decker Shelf with Pileus

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Wyoming weather can change ever so fast.  Less than an hour before, only a few high based, fuzzy and amorphous looking showers, with terrible definition, littered the sky under a canopy of high clouds produced by separate storms in the Bighorn Mountains.  After heading east from Buffalo to Gillette, we turned around to be greeted by a wild and wicked western sky painted slate, cyan and turquoise … [Read more...]

Sundown on Two Great Lakes

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Earth rotates our nearest star below the horizon again, this time across the waters of two Great Lakes.  I shot this among a sequence of photos looking beyond and beneath the Mackinac Bridge (unseen, above), thereby shooting across the combined body of Lakes Huron (near) and Michigan (far).  Already distorted by differential refracting of the light through a long fetch of atmosphere, … [Read more...]