SkyPix

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

Multiple Branching Strikes

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On this night, forked CGs were flying with reckless abandon from one part of a cluster of elevated thunderstorms in southern Oklahoma.  This pair had some of the most prolific branching I had seen, with the possible exception of another wild CG tandem a few minutes earlier.  The top of the stroke at right even has some upward forks—my only film slide of a CG flash bookended by upward and … [Read more...]

Woodsy Sunrise

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Morning after another nasty Southeastern tornado event dawned beautifully in Norman, reflected on one of the small local ponds.  Shots past the Sunrise Tree (middle right) work best in winter; between late March and late September, the brightest colors typically are too far north in the morning sky for good compositions here in the warm season.  Usually, trees here make a good suit of new leaves … [Read more...]

Tail-End Shelf

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The southern fringe of a short, north-south squall line produced a nice shelf cloud in the twilight, compelling a quick photo stop after the end of the active portion of the chase day.  On this day, the end of the chase came before I saw the earlier distant tornado!  While limping my mud-caked vehicle back toward Childress for a more-thorough hosing, I passed under a backbuilding convective band … [Read more...]

Wall Cloud after Sunset

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Just because it was past peak, in terms of color, doesn't mean the Childress wall cloud of 2001 still wasn't amazing to witness.  Now largely silhouetted against reddened light that very soon would vanish, the base lowered and rotated slowly, never producing what would have been a most interesting tornado to shoot on slide film.  The thick tail cloud briefly converged quickly into the main … [Read more...]

Hart Supercell and Tornado

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I was covered in mud and tired from trying furiously to dig my vehicle from a muddy-ditch predicament, so when I interrupted that arduous chore to shoot a few photos of this passing small supercell and its tornado, my heart wasn't in it.  Still, I'm glad to have bothered, because after the fact, this really was a remarkable circumstance, with a nicely structured storm.  It's also a story … [Read more...]

Hart Wasn’t In It

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Every year, unique moments in storm observing present themselves, but this was on a different level.  As the clear slot cut around the mesocyclone of this small but tornadic supercell, and it emerged from even murkier haze to the southwest, I could spot a narrow cone with ground contact.  This was the "Hart tornado", which came close to a West Texas Mesonet station at the time the site recorded an … [Read more...]