SkyPix

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

Another Forward-Flank Spinup

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As of this writing, I've only seen about a half dozen forward-flank tornadoes in all my time storm observing, and all but one were with this weird, midday supercell!  While one at right foreground dissipated under a still-rotating, scuddy part of an updraft base (note faint dark dust rightward of lower center), another persisted in the back, to the SW of the dying circulation.  All of these … [Read more...]

Autumnal Storm Retreat

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Sometimes I would arise early enough from a post-night-shift slumber to catch the sunset, even in the cool season.  This stormy spectacle was well worth an awakening by thunder, a little earlier than planned!  The back side of the storm complex timed nicely for a double-rainbow and scuddy mammatus show in a forested part of east Norman where we live. Norman OK (3 Nov 24) looking … [Read more...]

Supercell Highway

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In south-central Nebraska lies a nostalgically cherished old two-lane, rolling up and down green hills and along river valleys.  There, on just the right day every few years, one can observe a striated, fluid sculpture of vapors 60,000 feet deep swirl across the sky and over the road.  I’ve witnessed the spectacle along this highway a few times, each event being deeply gratifying and worth every … [Read more...]

Western Crawler

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Looking delicate but being deadly to anything in their way, tendrils of electrified plasma sliced the western sky, in front of a growing line of thunderstorms, southwest of the Oklahoma City metro area.  Wind turbines faced south-southeast (left) in the inflow sector to the squall line, which soon would hurl outflow well ahead of the updrafts and become disorganized. 3 WNW Tuttle OK (10 Nov 24) … [Read more...]

Sepia Sky on the Great Plains

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I don't eat a lot of full, hot dinners on storm-intercept days.  Lunch is my main meal.  That's because in the 5-9 p.m. hour, in the warm season, I'm still in the field, either on a beautiful supercell spinning itself deep into the evening, or have navigated rearward of upscale growth in hopes of a photogenic sunset.  On the Great Plains, the latter approach seldom disappoints!  Here in … [Read more...]

Lower Yellowstone Falls

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Over many millennia, on its way to union with the Missouri River in westernmost North Dakota, the Yellowstone River has carved its way into the volcanic plateau to form Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  This gorge is about 1/5 the depth of the Arizona Grand Canyon.   Lower Falls ranks as highest of the two at 308 feet, and the largest waterfall in the Rocky Mountains, spilling over hard ledge of … [Read more...]