Thunderstorm and lightning photo gallery Tom Warner

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Tom was born and raised in a small town in northern California called Paradise.  After he graduated from Paradise High School in 1983, he attended the University of California, Davis.  There he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Atmospheric Science in 1988.

He then began an aviation career in the United States Air Force and served 8 years as a pilot.  He spent his first year in pilot training in Enid, Oklahoma.  It was there that he got to first witness the fierce Plains thunderstorms and this sparked his interest in photography.

In 1990, he moved to Rapid City, South Dakota and piloted the B-1B Lancer for 5 years.  The Black Hills of South Dakota were simply spectacular and reminded him of his years growing up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  In 1995, he moved to Del Rio, Texas and spent two years as a T-38 instructor pilot before returning to Rapid City, South Dakota.

No longer in the Air Force, he had the opportunity to pursue his photography interest. He focused primarily on aerial, weather and night/low-light photography.

He piloted a severe weather research aircraft from 2000 - 2004 and received his Master's Degree in Atmospheric Sciences from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in 2003.  He now spend most of my time on photography and lightning research.