The Chase: What to Expect (FAQ)

[ Watch video clips or view tornado photos from past expeditions ]

On a Storm Highway guided chase expedition, you are in control of your trip. As your guide, I'm there to advise you on forecasting, data and storm intercept strategy, but it is entirely up to you on how you wish to carry out the chase. Your chase expedition can be whatever you want it to be - my goal is to ensure that you have the greatest chance to be successful on your trip. The following page answers many common questions about my guided storm chasing expeditions.

Are your tours better than a conventional chase tour?

A 'conventional' chase tour consists of one where you ride in a van or SUV along with a group of other tourists. With a conventional group tour, the guide does all of the driving and makes all of the decisions about where you'll go and how you'll get there. You're simply 'along for the ride', sharing your trip with a group of people.

With my tours, your chase trip is your own private expedition with an experienced chaser at your service, providing you with the same equipment and expertise that you'd get on a conventional tour. With my tour, you do the driving with your own vehicle, while I ride along with you as a passenger.

As to which one is better, both types of tours are good ways to experience storm chasing. Conventional tours are a better 'fit' for those who want to leave everything up to the guide, and who don't mind sharing their trip with a group of strangers. By contrast, my guided tours are a better fit if you'd rather have more control of your trip and have it "all to yourself".

If you plan to go chasing with a group of friends or family, my tour option is the better choice. Since you only pay one guide fee, you can save a considerable amount on your expedition by sharing costs with two or more people - unlike a conventional tour, where each person pays the full tour fee.

By default, I will focus on the forecasting and successful intercept of supercells and tornadoes. On days when the chances of tornadoes are slim but storms still fire, you may choose instead to try for lightning, storm structure and cloud photography if you wish. The chase expedition objectives are up to you - while most people normally chase for tornadoes, I will accomodate the pursuit of any weather phenomena you are interested in witnessing.

On a Storm Highway guided chase expedition, our chase range is anywhere that you are willing to go to find storms.

The area known as 'Tornado Alley' is typically thought of as being strictly the flat prairies of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas (the "Great Plains"). While most springtime chases do end up being in those areas, tornado chasing actually can be done anywhere between the Rockies and the Appalachians, including the midwest, Ohio and Mississippi Valley regions, the Ozarks and the high plains / front range of the Rockies. In other words, you can chase across a big portion of the country. I have intercepted tornadoes from Illinois to Colorado to South Dakota as well as in the Plains (statistically speaking, most of my tornadoes have been in Kansas). As long as the right atmospheric ingredients come together, tornadoes and severe storms can happen virtually anywhere.

The Great Plains of the central USA by far gives you the most "bang for your buck" - that is, for any given chase day from April to June, you're more likely to see a tornado or nice supercell there. But sometimes the setups for storms will stray outside of the traditional "tornado alley" - into Illinois or Indiana, for example. If such a setup happens during your guided expedition, we'll leave the choice up to you as to whether you want to make the extra drive 'outside the Plains'.

While I will make a forecast and recommend a chase target each day, it is up to you on how far you wish to drive. Some weather patterns require successive long drives to get into position. For instance, a chase in north Texas may be followed by another great setup in Nebraska the next day. If you are up to the drive, by all means, go for it! But if you'd rather skip a day and wait for something closer, you're welcome to make that choice as well.

On a typical chase expedition, expect to drive 500 to 700 miles (or more) every day. On even the most slow-paced storm chasing trips, you will be in the vehicle for long periods of time, so be prepared for a lot of time on the road.

Sleep schedule: Since chasing usually requires a lot of travel time, we normally need to be awake and on the road by 9 or 10 AM on a chase day. Some days may require an earlier wake-up if we have a longer drive to make, while others will find us very close to the day's target and able to sleep in. It is important for the driver to get a good night's rest, so we do our best to ensure that we get settled into a hotel by midnight. Depending on the drive time to our next day's target, we may opt to drive a little farther after our chase is over for the night before getting a hotel.

Meals: Breakfast and sometimes lunch are the only normal meals we'll have time for on a typical chase. Dinnertime (late afternoon) is also prime time for storms - and since we'll be in 'active chase mode' then until well after dark, dinner will usually be postponed until very late at night. If we are in a remote rural area, restaurants may not even be open by the time we finish chasing. In those cases, we may have to settle for a light snack in leu of dinner. It is often a good idea to bring some snack foods (such as granola or meal bars) for those types of scenarios.

Your role in the storm forecasting and intercept process is entirely up to you. You can opt to just let me do all of the forecasting and navigation, leaving you to to just relax, drive, and enjoy the sights in the skies. Or maybe you're interested in 'learning the ropes' of storm chasing for yourself. In that case, I can teach you the basics of forecasting and chasing principles, and even give you the opportunity to have a part in the daily process.

The choice of hotels is up to you. I can attempt to reserve the rooms from the vehicle using the internet, if we know a few hours in advance where we will be staying.

You may bring anything you wish on your guided chase tour - after all, it is your expedition. You're free to bring what you normally would for any vacation or 'road trip', but we recommend the following travel items for maximum practicality and comfort on a storm chasing trip:

• Small duffel bag with 4 or 5 sets of clothes - Big suitcases can be cumbersome, especially with more than two people in one vehicle. Remember you'll have to carry your personal items in and out of a hotel room every day, so the smaller and more compact, the better. Most hotels will have washers and dryers that we can use on occasion, so you'll be able to get by just fine with just a few changes of clothes.
   
• Clothing for both warm and cool weather - Most of our days will be spent in very warm, humid conditions - so you'll want to dress accordingly. Shorts/jeans and t-shirts are usually the way to go. Bring some long pants and a light jacket or pullover, as occasionally the post-storm environment can cool off substantially - particularly at night. Don't wear anything you don't want getting rain-soaked, muddy, dusty and dirty.
   
• Camera and tripod - Whether you shoot stills, video or both - you'll definately want a camera to record what will be memories of a lifetime. Don't forget extra batteries, chargers, tapes, film and/or memory cards. I can temporarily offload digital photo memory cards to the laptop to give you more capacity.
   
• Sunscreen and insect repellent - Bright sunlight is plentiful on the Great Plains, but unfortunately so are mosquitoes.

If all seats in your vehicle will be occupied, you may need to use a rooftop cargo carrier for luggage. I own a soft Thule carrier for vehicles with roof rails, included at no extra charge if it becomes necessary.

I will bring along the following items that need space reserved in your vehicle:

• Laptop and carrying case
• "Jotto desk" swivel platform for laptop
• Portable power inverter console with outlet strip
• Video camera and tripod
• WxWorx satellite antenna and cable
• Cellular aircard and router
• First aid kit and medicine/emergency bag
• Personal duffel bag

In a nutshell, the area in and around the front passenger seat (including the dashboard) should be reserved for me and my gear, with a little space for the other items listed above in either the trunk or the rear seats.

Chasing storms with an experienced chaser is by far the safest way to go. With the abundance of realtime weather data that we'll have access to, your guide will not only be able to get you to the right storm, but keep you out of harm's way. And since I'm a passenger rather than a driver, I can devote my full attention to navigation and data monitoring - leaving the driver to dedicate their full attention to the road.

Having me ride along, instead of drive, ensures that I can devote my full attention to forecasting, navigating and data monitoring with one or two laptop computers. Performing these tasks while driving can be unsafe, so I feel it is best for me to guide as a passenger rather than a driver.

I strongly discourage the use of a rental car for storm chasing. It's a matter of insurance coverage - many rental car companies are beginning to exclude storm damage from even their supplimental coverage (CDW and LDW) options. While we will never be reckless nor purposefully drive a vehicle into harm's way, storm chasing by its very nature has its inherent risks to a car. For instance, things like muddy shoes from walking along roadsides and a stray hail dent or two can be difficult to avoid completely. Legally, even supplimental insurance may not cover this type of damage to a rental vehicle if it occurs in connection with a storm we intercept intentionally.

As with the rest of your chase expedition, the decision to rent a vehicle is one I will leave up to you, as long as you are aware of the risk of having to fully reimburse the rental company for any storm damage that occurs. You can also check with your own insurance company to inquire if you will be covered by them if you choose to rent a vehicle for your trip.

If renting a vehicle is unavoidable (for instance, if you're coming from overseas), we can adjust our chasing strategy to give storms a much wider berth than usual - although this can limit our chances for successful tornado intercepts. As long as you are aware of the risks involved with each option, and you understand and accept the liabilities and responsibilities associated with them, in the end, I leave all of these decisions up to you.

Unfortunately, the weather is completely out of our control, and some days there will simply be nothing to chase. On days when storms don't occur or are out of our driving range (what we would call a 'down day'), the day's activities are up to you. The Great Plains are full of things to do and places to see - historic landmarks, scenic areas and museums. Or maybe you'd rather just relax at the hotel for a day - the choice is yours.

I am pleased to announce that Storm Highway chase guide services will now be operating out of the St. Louis metro area. This puts the start of your tour right on the eastern doorstep of "Tornado Alley". St. Louis is conveniently located in the center of the country, with easy air, rail and highway access.

The map at right shows St. Louis in relation to the typical areas we will be chasing in during the peak spring severe weather season. This starting point is advantageous due to being able to quickly choose one of several potential routes into "Tornado Alley" depending on which geographic area the severe weather risk sets up.

I leave the travel arrangements entirely up to you, including how you travel to the St. Louis "base", and how/when I should meet you.

You may choose to depart from my home base in St. Louis, Missouri. From the St. Louis area, the drive to the doorstep of the Great Plains takes less than an afternoon - about 3.5 hours to Kansas and about 4.5 hours to Oklahoma - though some severe weather outbreaks happen even closer (in Missouri, Iowa and Illinois)! This initial leg of the journey is helpful, as it gives me plenty of time to make sure all of the equipment is installed and functioning properly in your vehicle, long before we get into the 'heat of the chase'. I can also use some of this time to give you a 'primer course' on chasing and severe weather forecasting and interception techniques.

If you'd rather skip this leg of the expedition, you may opt to fly into a Great Plains city such as Dallas, Kansas City, Amarillo, Wichita, Oklahoma City, Denver or Omaha. In that case, all you'll need is to provide round-trip air transportation for me and my chasing equipment to meet you at whichever destination you choose. My chasing gear will require two additional full-size checked bags, in addition to the standard carry-on and checked baggage.

You may also elect to pay my travel expenses to have me drive my personal vehicle to a meeting location of your choice. This option may be convenient if youd like to meet in Kansas City, for example.

I've found that for a chase expedition, driving to the Plains is often more economical and convenient than flying - particularly when you consider airport check-in, security, luggage and gear transport. In some cases, driving actually gets you there faster.

If I have tours booked adjacent to yours and am already 'on location' in the Plains, we can arrange a meeting point closer to our chase target.