SkyPix

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

Tempest Highway

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Downhill is the easy road, unless it leads directly into a maelstrom of severe wind and large hail!  We were glad to have a high-quality crossroad behind us leading to the left and ahead of the looming pall of destructive outflow.  Despite the imminent danger, we were kept this long by the alluring beauty of a tiered shelf cloud catching indirect sunlight from the eastern sky, shortly before … [Read more...]

Flames of Lightning 2

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The lightning-started fire burned on and on through the twilight hour, and also through grass, scrub brush and dry,oily cedars, all the while resisting multiple efforts by local fire departments to extinguish the inferno.  We could see distant flashing lights of the fire vehicles periodically heading out from San Jon to the blaze, making little impact, while a plume of smoke wafted northeastward … [Read more...]

Flames of Lightning 1

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These scenes have a little of a lot:  cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, a decaying wet downburst (background), the remnants of a high-based wall cloud and tail cloud, and a lightning-started fire with a smoke plume as viewed from the 4900' Caprock overlook in northeast New Mexico.  The flames persisted for at least an hour before fire trucks arrived and another hour or more afterward.  Next is a … [Read more...]

Thunderstorm Triple Threat

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A large, high-based, slowly rotating wall cloud drifts over the Canadian River Valley of northeast New Mexico, as seen from atop the 4900-foot Caprock overlook near San Jon. I love High Plains supercells; and this scene is one reason.  Note the dark precipitation core behind the wall cloud and lightning strike.  The outward thrust on its bottom left indicates intense winds characteristic of a … [Read more...]

The Ice Monster of Jokulsarlon

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Variegated compositions of ice impurities within this single slab refracted the late-afternoon light in different ways, offering a resplendent mosaic of tones. The glistening iceberg combined with its reflection to present the form of a gnarled creature on the prowl. 7 SW Reynivellir, Iceland (18 Aug 14) Looking NNW 64.0463, -16.1836 … [Read more...]