Extreme Weather Photographer’s Decades-Long Tornado Tour (Photo Gallery)

A rare, close-range photo of a non-supercellular tornado, filled with swirling dirt, grinding across a farm road in western Kansas on May 8, 2008. Extreme weather photographer Jim Reed captured this image within 150 feet of the twister. The award-winning image is the official photo of the 2012 Extreme Weather Congress in Hamburg, Germany. (Jim Reed)

Documenting record-setting storms for more than 20 years, Jim Reed is a premier storm chaser and extreme weather photographer. His work has been published by National Geographic and Discovery Channel.

An unmarked Kansas state Trooper throws his car into reverse to escape the path of a non-supercellualr tornado (also known as a landspout tornado) near Pretty Prairie, Kansas, on April 11, 2002. It was the first Kansas twister of the season. This image is a composite created from a high-resolution transparency (shot by Jim Reed) and a low-resolution video grab (shot by Katherine Bay). Except for overlapping the two medias, no manipulation has occurred. Distance, size, shape, and color are authentic. (Jim Reed)

A rare, close-range photo of a non-supercellular tornado, filled with swirling dirt, grinding across a farm road in western Kansas on May 8, 2008. Extreme weather photographer Jim Reed captured this image within 150 feet of the twister. The award-winning image is the official photo of the 2012 Extreme Weather Congress in Hamburg, Germany. (Jim Reed)

Reed is “one of the world’s most pioneering and accomplished” extreme weather photographers, according to the biography on his website. He was invited to the White House in 2009 to discuss photography with the White House chief photographer Pete Souza. 

A large tornado strikes near Hennessey, Okla., on May 19, 2010. (Jim Reed)

An isolated supercell thunderstorm threatens south central Kansas on June 5, 2004. The flying saucer-shaped severe storm produced baseball-sized hailstones. (Jim Reed)

 

His website tells the story of his childhood fascination: “In 1969, when Jim was eight years old, he and his mother unwittingly drove through the outer bands of Hurricane Camille while returning from a family vacation to Florida. By age 11, Jim was shooting home movies of nature’s wrath.”

A tornado swirls across north-central Nebraska on June 9, 2003. (Jim Reed)

Double trouble. Two tornadoes strike Turner County, South Dakota on June 24, 2003. (Jim Reed)

A tornado moves across south-central Kansas on June 12, 2004. (Jim Reed)

A bright burst of lightning illuminates two after-dark tornadoes near La Crosse, Kansas on May 25, 2012. After the USA experienced one of the most destructive tornado years on record (2011), tornado activity during 2012 was ironically well below average, with only 878 confirmed twisters between January and October. (Jim Reed)

To see more of Reed’s photos of ice storms, floods, tornadoes, and blizzards, see his website or his book, “Storm Chaser: A Photographer’s Journey.” Follow him on Twitter @jimreedphoto.