These are photos taken during two storm chases in May 2002. One chase began at Childress, Texas, and the other at Pampa, Texas. Photos of the rare 'mammatus' clouds which were taken in the wake of these storms are shown in a separate album called 'Mammatus Clouds'.

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The Core, Not the place to be. Panic stations immediately after this photo was taken as this cloud mass was rotating above my head.	Big Hail, The hailstones can be seen in this photo, mainly due to the fast exposure time of the digital camera.	Black Sky, Close to the bear's cage of a storm, the sky can turn so black it is almost like night. This photo was taken at about 3 p.m. in the afternoon.	Storm Chasers, I was not the only one on the road that day watching the storm unfold. These were amateur chasers on a road north of Childress, Texas.
Time to Leave, The storm is getting too close for comfort and the chasers are making ready to leave. My car's roof in the foreground.	Churning, This cloud was 'churning' quite rapidly, much faster than normal clouds. It seemed almost alive.	Pampa Storm, Storm clouds gathering over Pampa, Texas. The tornado sirens went off during this storm.	Pampa Storm, Developing storm clouds and wall cloud over Pampa, Texas.
Pampa again	Gathering Storm, A supercell storm in development.	Too Close for Comfort, This is much too close to the storm.	Gust Front, The approaching storm.
Storm4	Storm5	Storm6	Storm7
Close call, These are three successive frames of a longer movie sequence. There was a lightning strike to the ground only a few feet behind me during the brief instant of the second frame. This caused the whole countryside to light up around me. It was close enough for me to hear the hissing of the instantly boiled rain water on the ground. Much too close for comfort. Lightning is the no.1 hazard of storm chasing.	Tornado, Faint outline of a tornado hidden behind a wall of precipitation. Tornadoes can often be hidden from view until they are almost on top of you and makes them more dangerous for that reason. This photo was taken in southwestern Oklahoma.	Amarillo Weather Radar, This is an image from the weather radar at Amarillo during one of the storms I was chasing. The image was sent to me by a friend after the chase. He was helping to guide my movements from his vantage point on the internet.	Downburst, This photo of a supercell shows a 'downburst' at the right hand side of the photo. Notice how the cloud comes down to the ground, then bends left. Downbursts can often do similar damage to that of a tornado, and are very dangerous to aircraft as the plane can be literally 'slammed' to the ground.
Dark Clouds, More dark clouds under a supercell.	Wall Cloud, Massive wall cloud moving over Pampa, Texas. Wall clouds are characteristic of supercell storms.	Receding Storm, This photo taken in Oklahoma as the storm moved off to the northeast.	Northern Texas, Supercell storm near Pampa, with wall cloud reaching almost to the ground.
Driving to Pampa, This photo was taken about 10 miles southeast of Pampa, Texas. The wall cloud to the right looked threatening and I was half considering turning around, but instead pressed on to Pampa.	Driving On to Pampa, A somewhat blurry picture (my nerves were getting the better of me), but the wall cloud can be clearly seen and posed a very threatening sight.	Receding Storm, Near Elk City, Oklahoma, this storm now shown moving away to the east. It was throwing numerous lightning bolts to the ground and the cloud was in constant and rapid upheaval.	Darkening Sky, Driving toward Pampa, Texas, the sky was getting darker and darker. Where are those storms in the sunshine like in 'Twister'?
Churning Storm Cloud, This photo was taken near Elk City, Oklahoma. The whole cloud mass was churning rapidly.	Exposed, Photo taken near Elk City, Oklahoma. The cloud mass is in constant and rapid upheaval.	Distant Storm, Driving toward Pampa, Texas, these storm clouds were gathering in the distance.