There’s something so pleasing about watching the rain through the window, or hearing the rumbling clouds from the warmth and comfort of your own home. There are some, though, who want to get up close and personal with the weather, so now there are experienced tour operators out there willing to take you (safely) on the ultimate drive to the heart of a storm. From death-defying moments to America’s tornado hot spots, we spoke to three real-life storm chasers who reveal their experiences of one of the world’s most dangerous travel experiences.

As the name suggests, storm chasers quite literally chase storms. But there’s no running involved; instead, they drive across America, seeking and following dramatic storms to watch and photograph. It might sound dangerous (and it certainly can be), but it’s a hobby that has turned into a seriously addictive and lucrative tourism business.

Founder of the oldest storm chase tour company in the industry, Charles Edwards has been chasing storms since 1990 and started Cloud 9 Tours to help pay for what he describes was a “very expensive hobby”.

“I was originally interested in hurricanes and studied meteorology,” Charles explains. “When there, I got involved in a storm chasing club and got hooked. I transferred to the University of Oklahoma and chased storms with several experienced people. It became an obsession and I eventually found a way to make it into a business.” Launched in 1996, the company quickly grew and Charles began taking more than 16 people out on drives to chase storms.

“The day begins with looking over all the weather data and making my forecast, followed by a weather briefing to the guests and a brunch. After this, we hit the road to our target area, refining it as we go,” Charles says. “When storms develop, we follow them until they get away from us, it gets too dark to safely follow, or the storms die.”

Cloud 9 Tours take groups of chasers out in 15-passenger vans. “There are only two people per bench seat, so everybody gets a window seat,” Charles explains. “There are also outlets available so people can charge their phones if needed.”

Storm chasing isn’t just about chasing some rain and lightning, though. The main aim is to find storms that are likely, or have the potential, to produce tornadoes, particularly supercells (a type of thunderstorm that produces deep rotating clouds). “I forecast conditions that are favourable for supercell formation,” Charles says. “When those conditions do not exist, I will go for any photogenic weather pattern there is.”

The large hail produced by storms can create some of the scariest experiences. Charles told us how he was caught near a tornado that was producing “softball-size hail” blowing sideways around the tornado. “There was no way to escape the hail, we lost several windows in the van and had no visibility with a tornado close by.”

Roger Hill, partner of Silver Lining Tours, holds the Guinness World Record for seeing the most tornadoes in history. “Having a close-up experience with a large tornado in my youth fuelled the fire”, Roger says. “I’ve been chasing storms for over 30 years – I have a love for weather of all kinds that has kept me going”.

Silver Lining Tours is another of the many storm chasing firms based in the US. “In the spring and early summer, we chase severe thunderstorms,” Roger says. “These are beautiful (but can be frightening) to watch and are responsible for over 90% of tornadoes.”

Customers book up to 18 months in advance for Silver Lining Tours, but there aren’t always storms to see. “You never get storms every day,” Roger explains. “Usually two out of three days you get storms to chase. When there are no storms we either get into position for the next chase day, relax, find local attractions to visit, or I teach severe weather classes to the group.”

Chasing storms involves a lot of travelling. According to Roger, distances can average around 500 miles a day. “It sounds like a lot, but it goes fast,” he says. “Guests get to visit parts of the US and Canada they wouldn't ordinarily. The plains are quite pretty and offer a lot of things to see.”

“We use 15-passenger, customised vans. They have power outlets at each seat for guests to use and plenty of high-tech equipment, from in-van wi-fi, computers and hardware and software for weather data, weather stations and commercial radios for van-to-van communication,” Roger explains.

What might seem like a small storm can sometimes turn into a high precipitation storm, Roger explains. “With these type of storms, you can’t see a tornado, so at that point we break off and stay a safe distance away.”

“The scariest moment I ever had was in 2011 when we were very close (three city blocks) to the Joplin, Missouri’s killer EF5 tornado (which killed over 10 people and injured 1,000),” Roger recalls. “We were stuck in traffic and had to take evasive manoeuvres to get out of the way as the mile-wide violent tornado approached. We came within about 45 seconds of impact.”

Christoffer Björkwall, from Sweden, travels across the world to get his storm-chasing fix. “I love to travel and love adventures. I constantly try to push my comfort limit in any way possible.” Despite living in Sweden, he chases every single year.

After spending a year in Kansas as an exchange student in 2003, Christoffer heard stories from friends about how storms and tornadoes had affected them. “It really caught my interest,” he says. “A few years later I found some amazing videos on YouTube and it really opened my eyes to the amazing things that can happen during a powerful supercell storm. Tornadoes, amazing storm structure, weird clouds, incredible colours, hail the size of oranges etc.”

“Of course chasing storms isn’t as safe as watching the tornadoes on YouTube, but it is a lot safer than one would think,” Christoffer says. “We always keep a safe distance to tornadoes and large hail. In addition, we always make sure we have an escape route if the storm makes an unexpected turn.”

Giant hail, speeding tornadoes and catastrophic winds might seem to be the most dangerous elements of storm chasing, but they’re not. “The riskiest part of storm chasing is the driving”, Christoffer explains. “You can drive for more than 10 hours day after day, often under bad weather conditions."

But this doesn’t mean the storms themselves don’t come with risks. Earlier this year, Christoffer explains he and his group were “stuck in the middle of two storms that collided just after dark”. “Suddenly it increased immensely in strength, producing extremely fierce winds with rotation all around us,” he says. “We were in the dark and in precipitation with a failing 4WD limiting our escape routes.”

“The best storm I’ve ever witnessed was in Dodge City, Kansas in 2016. It was the perfect storm chasing day. One almost stationary storm produced somewhere in between 10 and 15 tornadoes in one day, with two tornadoes on the ground at the same time. It was amazing!” Chris caught this on camera, too – watch it here.

Most companies chase storms from Texas to North Dakota and from Colorado to Missouri, but Christoffer claims the best place for chasing is in Kansas. “Mainly because it is the state in which it began for me, but also because it is so flat and you can see tornadoes from miles away,” he says. When Christoffer isn’t busy jetting off for his next adrenaline-filled adventure, he works as a freelancing web entrepreneur and is behind the website StormChasingUSA.com, which provides tools for searching for and choosing the best storm/tornado chasing tours in the USA. 

Thinking of signing up for a tour yourself? On average, tours cost between $1,000 (£775) and $4,000 (£3,000) per person. You’ll need to book well in advance and pick a time of year that will provide you with the best storms – May and June are known to be the best for spotting tornadoes.

Loved this? We've got more travel inspiration, tips and advice on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.