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"Mother Ship" Cloud
A rare mother ship cloud formation hovers over Childress, Texas. Tornado chasers there spent seven hours and 150 miles (240 kilometers) tracking the supercell thunderstorm that produced this cloud formation. Supercell thunderstorms are known to spawn tornadoes with winds exceeding 200 miles an hour (322 kilometers an hour).
Photograph by Carsten Peter, National Geographic

Tornadoes

See photos of tornadoes and their aftermath in this photo gallery, from National Geographic.

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