Review of "Tour 2A" by Extreme Tornado Tours

• Review by: Drew Myer
• Tour Operator: Extreme Tornado Tours
• Tour: Tour 2A
• Year: 2013
• Validated: This review has been validated.

General review

Both of my tours with ETT were excellent. We were always under a storm if there was one and, despite not seeing a tornado on either tour, we saw some wicked things...well-defined wall clouds and funnel clouds, lightning, hail, etc. And when there wasn't weather to chase we were always on our way to see/do something interesting to stay entertained. Additionally, both of my tours with ETT had several tourists on board, which is important to me. Part of the fun is meeting new people from different parts of the world who are just as interested in weather as I am. I've been on other tours where only 1 or 2 other tourists were with me, and that can get pretty dull. The motel/hotel rooms we stayed in were generally pretty good as well. ETT always strives to make sure we stay in the best (but most reasonable) lodging available. Sometimes after a chase that's not always possible, but they do a good job of at least striving for it. One of the big reasons I chose to go with ETT is that I'm a fan of the Stormchasers/Tornado Chasers TV and web series and Reed Timmer. While we did get to meet Reed during both of my trips, they were both very brief, fleeting moments as we were preparing to chase storms. I fully understand how much Reed has on his plate and the number of people competing for his attention. But from the perspective of an amateur storm chaser and a paying customer of a tour that advertises getting to spend time with Reed, I was disappointed that it was for such a brief amount of time. I would hope in the future that ETT and Reed make an effort to have at least a sit down (over a meal?) to speak with Reed on a more personal level and under less frantic circumstances.

Vehicle review:

The vans are comfortable and never over crowded. The best part about the vans is the see-through roofs, which allowed us to look straight up into the storms to see movement, lightning and especially hail coming straight down at us.

Tour guide review:

The tour guides were one of the best things about the tour. They're consummate professionals, but also know how to joke around and keep people engaged and having fun. Most importantly, they're very knowledgeable forecasters and do a great job explaining the forecast and answering weather-related questions.

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