SkyPix

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

Volcanic Christmas Tree

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The world’s hottest Christmas tree took shape in Kialuea’s summit caldera on this cool September morning in 2025.  The high lava fountain assumed this form briefly, at irregular intervals for about an hour, during the 33rd episode of the eruption that began in December 2024.  That eruption sequence is still underway as of this writing, in early 2026.  Take close note of the rippled, smudged … [Read more...]

Spiral Storm with Tails

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Challenges of safe storm observing are many!  Running out ahead of a big, dark, deep, spiraling supercell to get a fuller look at its structure, on a hazy day, is a tough balance to reach in that narrow and fuzzy gap between being too close to see the depth of the storm and too far for the same purpose.  That's especially compounded on the edge of the Hill Country, where terrain and thickets of … [Read more...]

Storm that Handed Off

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Two "Brady supercells" highlighted this unusual central Texas chase day in mid June.  A strong subtropical jet provided deep shear to support them, as readily seen here in the pronounced eastward tilt of the first storm's updraft.  Of course, moisture and instability were fine, as is usually the case this far south this time of year, with shear typically quite lacking.  Not this day!  The newer … [Read more...]

Rush Sparks and Flash Flood 3

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Back sides of thunderstorm complexes can offer tremendous electrical shows, and this epitomized that.  While a flash flood coursed through a farm field, the display of sparks from overhead to the southeast was frequent, bright and sharp, thundering continually.  This took a back seat to no other such experience in my long history of storm observing in terms of sheer frequency and quantity of … [Read more...]

Mauna Kea’s Somewhat Snowy Summit

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[Click Image to Enlarge] On the Big Island of Hawaii (Hawaii Island), volcanic Mauna Kea reaches 13,803 feet above sea level and 30,610 feet from its deep, mid-Pacific underwater bottom, the highest base-to-top measure of any mountain in the world.  The altitude above sea level here would be the highest of any mountain in the U.S. outside Alaska, if it weren't for the fact that the tremendous … [Read more...]

Radium Sky

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[Click Image to Enlarge] Even though the digital algorithm struggled with the light difference from the right side of one frame to the start of the next (instead of smoothly transitioning across them as usual), I kept this image because it nicely showed the character of an ominous and large, severe, heavy-precip supercell.  As this storm churned toward the east-southeast, it produced numerous … [Read more...]