SkyPix

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

Textured Twilight Tempest

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One of my favorite lighting conditions for storm observation is western twilight, eastern storm.  When the subject is a fantastically crisp convective bomb such as this—a supercell on the Great Plains bathed all over in warm and cool pastel tones—I hope it's evident why!  An impressive rampart of cumulus congestus rolled up the west flank of the storm beneath a frosty crown of anvil mammatus.  In … [Read more...]

Tail Cloud behind Wind Farm

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This laminar, sloping and strangely lit cloud formation developed along an area of gentle lift extending northeastward from the similarly flat, featureless supercell base unseen at left.  The terrestrial texture of the formation reminds me of a hilly landscape rising in the distance from a glowing ocean.  With the aid of a zoom lens, it formed a fine late-afternoon backdrop for the large wind farm … [Read more...]

Window after Ice Storm

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Freezing rain and wind combined to coat the north side of this outdoor window with a rippled veneer of ice, yielding a nicely abstract piece of visual art as seen from the inside.  The frozen accretion belonged to a covered bus stop at the site of the National Weather Center in Norman. Norman, OK (30 Jan 10) Looking N 35.1829, -97.4393 … [Read more...]

Crumpled Vehicle

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This image illustrates why cars and trucks are bad places to be in tornadoes.  The Andover, KS, tornado of 26 Apr 1991 mangled this vehicle—probably a van or early model SUV—beyond recognition.  It was rolled, battered by debris and ripped by winds near maximum tornado force.  The tornado produced F5 damage in a subdivision of large, well-built homes about a half mile SW of this location, and was … [Read more...]

Badlands Clay Pan

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Recession of high water, followed by many rainless and sunstroked days, left behind this alien landscape backed by the Badlands of South Dakota, from which the clay sediments drained to settle on this hard-baked pan.  Another angle of the scene offers a smaller-scale view. 2 NE Interior SD (16 Jun 12) Looking NW 43.7518, -101.9492 … [Read more...]

Geometrically Cracked

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Patterns of horizontal and vertical cracking form naturally geometric art.  The sun-dried field of clay was deposited during the calming of a water-mud slurry that had cascaded from nearby erosive badlands.  The smooth-sided, basically rectilinear pattern to the cracks indicates a young deposit—likely just one or two generations of drying since the creation of the sediment.  Here's the broader … [Read more...]