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If you ever tell people that you’re going tornado chasing, you can expect some wide eyes and questions about safety. It’s understandable. There is a sense that tornadoes are unpredictable and the coverage distributed by the mainstream media is often limited to the most deadly events. But while there are good reasons for caution, embedded in the more extreme discourse are some half truths and misconceptions that deserve clarification. As with many things the devil is in the details.
I’ve loved storms since I was a boy. They are awesome and appeal to my interest in existential experiences.
Last year I started to look into the possibility of hiring experts to take us tornado chasing and after some research we selected Extreme Tornado Tours as our guides. We were impressed with the resumés of their personnel and they were very responsive to our inquiries. They seemed to really enjoy sharing their passion for weather and directed us to many resources for our information and education.
From discussion and research, I’ve concluded that successful and safe tornado chasing depends on good forecasting, good positioning and leaving a margin for safety. For success, a bit of luck may also be required.
As far as tornado forecasting is concerned, I’ve learned that it’s a complicated and imperfect science. It appears that it is often possible to know when and where storms with tornado potential are likely to form and even where in those storms tornadoes are most likely to occur, but it doesn’t seem well understood why some of those storms produce tornadoes and others don’t. When there are many storms, choosing the right ones can be a challenge and the majority of tornado warned storms don’t produce a tornado. Proper positioning relative to the right storm at the right time is also a critical part of the game, as is maintaining escape routes. It looks to me as though tornado chasing has been made more accessible by mobile phone and internet technology.
Weather being what it is, there’s no guarantee that we’ll see any tornadoes on our tour but we’re going at the very height of the season so we’re choosing to be optimistic.
Below I’m including links to some resources. Readers will find websites and videos belonging to tornado chasers and vloggers which provide a sense of how tornado chasing works. The classroom-style Tornado Forecasting Seminar by Rich Thompson at OU is incredibly informative. Those with some background in meteorology will probably find this easier to grasp the first time around. (By the way, why are the University of Oklahoma’s initials OU?) Special thanks to Nick Dreischman for sharing some of these, and for the use of his amazing photo for this post.
Links and Resources
1-8 Day Convective Outlook | Storm Prediction Center, National Weather Service
U.S. Daily Tornado Probability (NOAA graphic)
Tornadoes by State | Tornado Climatology & Distribution | NOAA (graphic)
Pecos Hank (YouTube)
https://youtu.be/erJLqKMeN-4
Skip Talbot’s Field Tactics for Practical Storm Chasing
Weather Radar App for mobile: Radar Scope
Twitter: @NWStornado, to receive Tornado Warnings issued by the National Weather Service
Winging It 
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