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Our party headed from Great Bend, Kansas, toward Ada, Oklahoma, on May 9, then split up, leaving Jim Edds and I to pursue the hard convection that popped up to our east. Digital image.	Several tornado warnings were issued along the line of storms that developed. We were ahead of one such storm in McAlester, Oklahoma, as it approached, looking ominous. Digital image.

We found ourselves looking at what appeared to be a rotating wall cloud. When the apparent meso was almost on top of us, the wind began whipping around. With few road options, we went north to get east and ended up in a bad spot - the core. We stopped in the blinding rain and avoided the worst of the hail. Images from HD video.

Tired of playing in the core, we opted to hang back on the west side of McAlester and got some beautiful views of mammatus clouds and lightning. Digital images.

In the heart of town, the city lights framed a beautiful lightning show. Digital images.