Storm chaser Jim Reed

Professional storm chasers monitor an approaching tornado in western Kansas on 8 May 2008 Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

A lone lightning bolt strikes the ground beneath an isolated supercell at sunset near Medicine Lodge, Kansas Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

A wall cloud forms beneath a tornadic thunderstorm in Wilson County, Kansas on 1 May 2008 Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

A supercell thunderstorm erupts over west-central Kansas on 8 May 2008 Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

A tornado beneath a low topped supercell creates a large debris cloud in western Kansas on 8 May 2008 Photograph: Barcroft Media/Barcroft Media

A supercell thunderstorm explodes with tornadic power near WaKeenney, Kansas, on 23 May 2008 Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

An electrical storm fires over Gillette, Wyoming, on 15 June 2003 Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

A supercell thunderstorm spins over western Oklahoma during twilight on 30 March 2008 Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

A lone lightning bolt strikes the ground beneath an isolated supercell at sunset in Kansas Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

A tornado, filled with swirling dirt, grinds across a farm road in western Kansas on 8 May 2008 Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

A severe thunderstorm with striated shelf cloud strikes Butler County, Kansas, at sunset on 25 July 1995 Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

A spectacular sunset occurs during a severe thunderstorm in north central Oklahoma on 8 May 2002 Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

A tornado with large Liberty Bell-shaped debris cloud swirls across a dirt road less than 500 feet in front of an unmarked Kansas State Trooper patrol car Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

Hurricane Gustav approaches New Orleans, Louisiana, on 31 August 2008. The eye of the category three hurricane made landfall a few hours later just west of the city Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

The extreme weather photographer Mike Theiss clutches a road sign during Hurricane Katrina in Gulfport, Mississippi on 29 August 2005 Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

Waves explode over a seawall and into Galveston, Texas as Hurricane Ike approaches on 12 September 2008. Less than twelve hours after this photo was taken, Hurricane Ike's verocious storm surge destroyed many homes and businesses along the south-east Texas coastline Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media

All that remains of the downtown Greensburg, Kansas United States Post Office is a pile of rubble and an American flag. Much of Greensburg was obliterated by winds in excess of 200 miles per hour as a 1.75 mile wide twister struck the small farming community on 4 May 2007 Photograph: Jim Reed/Barcroft Media