2002

My first storm of the season was on February 21st. I had gotten home from work, took a walk around the block and found my neighbors waiting for me when I got home. They asked if we were going to get tornadoes like Cypress did. I ensured them that all would be fine. I went into the house and watched the radar.

A line of storms had developed just 30 minutes earlier. Cypress received downdraft winds, not tornadoes. It looked like the core was moving right downtown Houston. I noticed that we might get a little lightning action.

I called a fellow storm chaser, Mark Egan, and then I went to look at the sky. The skies looked promising only if it were dark! I waited rather impatiently and when it was dark I headed out. I managed to catch the following three shots while getting rained on.

Severe Storms come through the Houston area on December 23rd. A warm front crosses through Texas earlier in the day then a cold front comes crashing through Houston. After a tornado watch and bow echo turned up on the radar, I went out to view the storm. After getting off of the phone with fellow, Storm fanatic Mark Egan, I noticed all the wind and rain had stopped. Suddenly a blast of wind and rain drove me back into the Jimmy where my sister and I could feel the vehicle rocking. Winds picked up drastically and the sky was lit by green clouds. Some of the most severe storms that I have seen during my life had odd lit clouds. I have noticed that in some storms one area of clouds lights up with neon colors, blue, purple, yellow...especially green. All but one of these storms have been seen at night and the cloud area showing this phenomenon travels across the sky with the rest of the storm. The green neon was viewed this night by my sister and I, it resembled the neon glow of the aurora and was fascinating to see.

12/30 At 6pm a squall line had formed across the whole of Texas. The line was strong and according to Intellicast radar summary had hail, and some rotation in the stronger cells. I waited impatiently then at 7:30 sprang into action. Within minutes I had found a location to view the storm. Rain set in and I couldn't find a location to protect me from the rain. Lightning was hidden behind a layer of low level clouds. Still I sat in the storm watching it and enjoying the strong wind and flashes. I continued to watch the storm and realized that the lower level clouds had thinned out a bit and lightning was hitting towers south of me. I drove to a new location though power lines plagued me I watched and tried some shots. Then I shifted positions again as crawlers began to cover the sky. What a wonderful way to end the year!!!





	Note the Christmas lights on the right side of the photo to the left.