I am Erik Burns, Owner and Tour Director of Tornadic Expeditions, and I'm here to tell you our story of how we came to be and what our mission is.

 

In the spring of 2012, a seed was planted, not known to me at the time, of what things would soon become. During that year a large number of people were contacting me requesting to take them chasing. My reputation for being a successful and passionate storm chaser had led to a following of folks interested to tag along for the adventure. Excited to teach and show others our amazing skies, I gladly took many people along for the ride who had never gone before, and got to show them things they had only dreamed of! It was amazing to see the smiles on everyone's faces, and the contagious amount of excitement!

 

Fast forward to May 19, 2013. After 11 years of storm chasing, I had the pleasure of taking my father on his first storm chase. On this particular day most storm chasers were targeting Southern Kansas. I had told my father, and others who had come along, that there was better potential for significant tornadoes in Central Oklahoma, and while most other chasers who I was networking with denied or were reluctant to accept my forecast, I stuck to my plan and stayed in Central Oklahoma while the others trekked into Kansas. Several hours later, a series of massive supercell thunderstorms exploded just west of Oklahoma City, and it was game on. By the end of the chase, we had experienced 3 tornadoes, two of them significant, and both over a mile wide. Chasers who had chosen Kansas drove home with their pride broken, knowing they missed the best tornadoes of the day.

 

My father was extremely impressed, and this experience had given him a new breath of life. About two weeks later, my father contacted me with an idea. He says, "Why don't you start a storm chasing tour company?". I was quite reluctant. "Many have tried, and many have failed" I told him. He said, "No, not you. You have a gift to be in the right place at the right time almost every time and people see this." I slept on the idea for some time, and after much thought, I decided to research the idea further. After two years of intense research, I had found a gap in the storm chasing tour industry that many others had missed, and I had the ability to fill it. So in 2015, Tornadic Expeditions was founded.

 

Our mission is simple. To provide the most successful, intimate, comfortable, and most fun, storm chasing tours available while incorporating Great Plains Americana and vacation atmosphere. While others run their tours like field trips, we run ours like vacations, experiencing life as a real storm chaser.

 

Each one of our tours is limited to only 4 guests per van. This allows for a much more accommodating experience for each guest, and allows each guest to be part of the adventure in their own special way. Our tours are all about you!

 

As of 2017, just two years of being in business we have climbed to the top as one of the highest rated, and most successful, storm chasing tour companies in the world.

 

Thank you so much for your time and we look forward to chasing with you!