Our Story

Extreme Tornado Tours began in 2008 when our founder Reed Timmer of Discovery Channel’s television show “Storm Chasers” also known for being the most prolific storm chaser on the planet, created a way for storm enthusiasts from all over the world to join in on these storm chasing experiences firsthand. Since our founding Extreme Tornado Tours has grown to be one of the leading tour companies in our industry, and certainly the most popular among our clients and the storm chasing community alike. Although Reed has moved on from the business aspect of our company in 2016, he has left it in capable hands and still does his best to meet up with the tours in the field, if possible.

Over the years we have been able to realize the dreams of our clients by engaging them with some of the strongest weather on the planet, all while being led safely by our team of storm chasing professionals in our modified touring vans. In this time, we have logged literally hundreds of tornadoes and all of the severe weather ingredients that come with them, and in the process have created one of the most unique vacation experiences on the planet. A testament to our success is our nearly 50% client return rate with many of our guests returning year after year. One of our guests has toured with us on 13 different tours seeing nearly 100 tornadoes over a five year span! 

Since our inception we have been able to accomplish our storm chasing experiences with a perfect safety record and we continue to find new ways to be even safer than the year before. We have a simple motto of safety first, storms second, and will continue to follow this mantra as our clients and team’s safety is always our utmost concern. We are led by a degreed meteorologist that not only consults with our team, but with our guests providing a unique learning experience as well as an entertaining one. Our team is made up of some of the most prolific storm chasers on the planet, some with well over 200 tornado sightings under their belts! As of 2020 our veteran team guides including our meteorologist have 6 years of guiding experience with the company, and you have likely seen interviews with them or their storm chasing footage on national television or magazine articles. 

Although safety is our first concern, our guests experience is equally important, and we are able to achieve that with one of the highest success rates for finding the best storms in the industry. Our guides are not just seasonal employees or drivers, each one is a year around storm chaser in their own right that eat, sleep and breathe storm chasing. This is something unique to us here at Extreme Tornado Tours, and our team dynamic is a testament to our success. While other companies might be led by one professional and a team of volunteer drivers, ours is made of professionals across the board. This allows us to not only combine forces on our forecasts for the highest success rate, but it ensures that each of your guides are capable of educating you on your experience and keeping you safe.

We aim to provide our clients with not only a storm chasing experience, but a travel experience beyond any other in the heart of America! Although the storms are what we are all here for, there is so much more that happens in a tour experience with us! Most all of our guests that join an ETT tour are weather enthusiasts through and through and can usually only imagine what it would be like to actually place themselves in front of these amazing weather events in person. One of the most amazing things about our tours is bringing together like-minded people in one place right in front of the very thing that brought them together in the first place! You can only imagine the people you will meet and share this experience of a lifetime with and the bonds that are created. When not chasing down tornadoes we make sure to find the “American experience” visiting famous restaurants and eateries as well as iconic national parks, attractions while running into the most interesting people along the way. Our guests have stood in front of Mount Rushmore, marveled at the Rockies mountain range in Colorado, visited the Twister Museum in Wakita, Oklahoma, and dipped their toes in the sand in the Gulf of Mexico after a fresh seafood dinner in Kemah, Texas! One of the most common things our guests beam about after a tour is how they got so much more out of it than just the storm chasing!

From providing our guests with some of the highest quality storm chasing experiences on the planet, to educating them on forecasting and the art of storm chasing, Extreme Tornado Tours story is one of serving our clients the best we can and providing an experience they will never forget. It is our duty to remember that we are facilitators of one of the most unique activities people could ever do, and our goal is to become the best in the world at it. Our story is about our people; our guests, our team and the people we meet along the way. We hope that you can join us in our story one day and let us help you to accomplish your storm chasing dreams.

BE THERE.