SkyPix

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

Splitter with Overshoot

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For all the beauty, wonder and immensity of the Great Plains, and all there is to see on every scale from hundred-mile skies to busy little ant trails, storms such as this are, first and foremost, what draw me across their long miles of roadways each spring.  This classic supercell exploded along a warm front to our NE while we were beneath a high-based, low-precip (LP) storm on the dryline about … [Read more...]

Tilted Current

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Brilliant, forked lightning cuts its own tortuous "path of least resistance" at speeds greater than the eye can resolve, surely roasting several square inches of ground amongst the dissected grasslands that carpet the Colorado-Nebraska state line.  The illusion of the upper part of the bolt's looping on itself is caused simply by our viewing it in two dimensions; one segment actually crossed in … [Read more...]

Altocumulus Mix

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A beautiful blend of altocumuli—floccus, undulatus and hints of castellanus— drifted across the refreshingly clean sky of the coastal Pacific Northwest.  This view was made possible by a segment of Ahlstrom's Prairie—a flat, wetland opening in the otherwise dense rainforest cover between Lake Ozette and Cape Alava, in Olympic National Park.  As happens so often near the Washington coast, fog and … [Read more...]

Dusty Pastel Storm

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[Part 4 of 4] Our final view of the Sheridan Lake storm complex was this:  an otherworldly layer of pastel hues from cool tones above to warm below, late in the magic hour of light immediately preceding sunset.  Storm observing on the Great Plains entails moments of beauty and uniqueness that go far beyond the hopelessly misleading TV portrayals of "storm chasing" as thrill-a-second adrenaline … [Read more...]

Sunset and Moonrise: Wind Cave National Park

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Flaming tones of salmon illuminated lower portions of a convective plume, turning golden on the cloud crowns aloft.  Meanwhile, the full moon rose over rolling green shortgrass hills that both nourish bison and soothe the soul of an outdoor enthusiast.  No "saturation adjustment" needed! What you see is how it was, and it was glorious indeed. 7 NNW Hot Springs SD (14 Jun 11) Looking SE 43.5268, … [Read more...]

River in the Moist Northwestern Forest

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Once in an unpredictable interval, we catch a glimpse into the multisensory artistry of God.  So it was, here in the temperate rainforests of the Cascades below Mount Rainier, in the sound of water rushing over rocks and dripping from plants, in the sight of the gentle veneer of fog blanketing the water under a canopy of deep green, in the touch of the cool and soft breeze, in the scent of the … [Read more...]