Weather, Storms & Hurricane Blog

After yesterdays post about the upcoming chase season, I received several emails concerning “Storm Chasing Tours” and what ones would I recommend. So I think I’ll go over some Storm Chasing Tour links and information in today’s post.

I myself have never been on a “Chase Tour” but I come across them all the time when chasing in the Plains during the spring. There are about 10 Chase Tour companies that I can think of, and all of them base most of their chasing in Tornado Alley each spring. There are a few others that also offer water spout chasing in the Florida Keys during the summer and a few now offer hurricane chasing tours.

Most of the tours base out of a central US city during the chase season and you the guest must fly into the base city to join up with the tour. Most of the tours have you book your seat over the web and then fly into the location they have setup. Most of the tours prices cover all of your chasing transportation (large van), lodging, insurance, and bagged torns and busts. You are responsible for all of your meals, snacks, video tapes, film and such.

You are going to want to pack “light”. Most chasers on tours or not, chase light. Bring only about 5 days worth of clothes, even though most tours last 10 days. Most of the motels you will be staying at will have laundry facilities. Dress for warm weather. Bring your camera gear, a tripod, small bag, and all of your DV tapes. You also need to pack a jacket for those cold outflow storms you might come across and also a possible flush front that leaves you in some chilly springtime temperatures.

Come with patients, because some days you might not see any severe weather and be traveling to a new target area that could be 600 miles away. Trust me, all that road time make is all worth it when your sitting close a to a large rotating wall cloud. Most of the tours on down days try to find something local to do in the area your in, or use it as a travel day for a next big setup way up in Nebraska. HA!

Below are a list of Storm Chasing Tours that are booking for the spring 2007 storm chase season. Visit all the sites and read through their options, prices and dates and try to book in advance since seats fill up fast the closer spring gets. The average price on a 10 day expedition is running around $2,700 in 2007. The May dates are normally the first to sell out being the peak tornado weeks. My recommended tours start from the top of the list.

2007 Storm Chase Tour Companies now booking:

Silver Lining Tours:

http://www.silverliningtours.com/

Tempest Tours Storm Chasing Expeditions:

http://www.tempesttours.com/

Storm Chasing Adventure Tours:

http://www.stormchasing.com/

Cloud 9 Storm Chasing Tours

http://www.cloud9tours.com/

Windswept Storm Chase Tours:

http://www.chasetours.com/

Violent Skies Tours:

http://www.violentskiestours.com/

Storm Chasing Tour Adventure, with Warren Faidley:

http://www.stormchaser.com/chaseadventure.html

F5 Tornado Chasing Safaris:

http://www.tornadochasingsafaris.com/

Yahoo! Directory of Storm Chasing Tour Groups:

http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Shopping_and_Services/Travel_and_Transportation/Tour_Operators/Storm_Chasing_Tours/

Another good place to start if your new to storm chasing:

http://www.stormtrack.org/library/chasing/beginner.html

I wish the best for all of you trying out a tour for the first time this spring or on your own. Play it safe and learn about storm chasing ethics: http://www.stormtrack.org/library/faq/#Ethics

Some good book reading for before your expedition or during it on the road:

The Storm Chaser Handbook:

http://www.weathergraphics.com/chasing/

Weather Forecasting Handbook:

http://www.weathergraphics.com/fcstbook/

Good luck this spring and be safe. If this is your first time trying out a chase tour, have fun, learn all you can, and enjoy the core punches… Oh yeah.. You’ll get to know the term well. LOL!

Might run into you at a chaser convergence… never know.

Happy chasing,

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