SkyPix

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

Tornado Spotting the Old Mesocyclone

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This view offers a classic storm-spotting lesson.  Paying close attention to radar and NWS warnings upshear, and being in a tornado watch, the diligent spotter knows a supercell is approaching from the west, has prepared for this, and immediately springs into duty.  Upon emerging from the low, wooded area of Hill Country to the north and west to occupy a good, high vantage, the spotter  sees the … [Read more...]

Big Bolts by Brookville

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While photographing more-distant lightning (see the bolt at left rear?) a bright flash blasted through the sky beneath a base higher than the field of view, around two miles away.  This was unambiguous evidence that it was time to toss the tripodded camera into the back and evacuate the area, fast.  Unlike a similarly close discharge a couple weeks before in Norman, I wasn't  within any sort of … [Read more...]

Blum Trunk

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Dangerous and delicate at the same time, a tornado depends on a narrow but still incompletely understood balance of storm-scale conditions to form and persist.  This one spun near Blum, TX, for almost 10 minutes within a deeply occluded mesocyclone, evolving from a rain-wrapped bowl shape to a lumpy elephant-trunk formation here—and later, a tapering, pointed tube that destroyed a wedding venue.  … [Read more...]

Explosive Intricacy

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This is a wide-angle view—so yes, it was nearby, and loud.  [Worry not, I was in shelter of a well-grounded structure with good outside view.]  A single source, connected somewhere high in the trailing precipitation region of a squall line, triggered an instant, multichannel cloud-to-ground discharge.  At such close range, with high origin and no obscuring by clouds, the deeply detailed, … [Read more...]

Wave Forms

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Two different wave trains—the larger one curving from a source near our vessel—crisscross in a beautiful array of rippling patterns, reflecting the blue and white of a broken sky above, abstractly converting fluid-flow equations to liquid art. 9 WNW Gustavus AK (31 Jul 3) Looking NNW 58.4374, -135.9936 … [Read more...]

Over the Minnesota Line

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As a big sun descended beyond the northwestern horizon, this was the closest and brightest among weakening storms that glowed brilliantly in its sunset reflection to the east, just over the state line. Two sides of the sky, simultaneously ablaze in warm-toned beauty, made me wish for a wider field of stereoscopic sight in the human capacity, to absorb the fullest grandeur in one sweeping view. 2 … [Read more...]