Review of "Epic April - Tour 1 - 10 Days" by Tornadic Expeditions

• Review by: Mitch
• Tour Operator: Tornadic Expeditions
• Tour: Epic April - Tour 1 - 10 Days
• Year: 2022
• Validated: This review has been validated.

General review

Having been on tours with another company for 4 years, I decided to give Tornadic Expeditions a shot this year. And I was not disappointed at all! I went on tour 6 in mid-June with a pretty decent weather pattern - 4 out of 6 days were chase days. And on all 4 of those days, I felt that we were on the best storm of the day, despite not seeing any tornadoes. There was one day where we chased a storm that was moving so fast that most other chasers weren’t able to keep up, but Erik and Tornadic Expeditions stayed on it for 6 hours! That was possible because of how small the group was. While other tours can have 12 and even up to 18 guests, this one just had 8, which made for much quicker stops and a more personal experience. I also enjoyed how we stayed in nicer hotels - including 2 nights in Hilton hotels - and not the old run-down motels you see in a lot of towns. And there were always fun activities on down days. On one of them we went to Rocky Mountain National Park, and on the other we explored the Badlands.

Vehicle review:

I loved the vans. They were very comfortable with enough leg room for someone tall like me. There is a monitor in the front that shows the radar or whatever else Erik is looking at. On one down day, he played tornado videos on it. There’s also a power strip in the back so everyone can charge their phones and other electronics. Guests are asked to switch vans and swap seats in the van every day so we all get a turn to experience the chase in different positions.

Tour guide review:

Erik was awesome!!! From the moment he picked me up from the airport I could tell how enthusiastic he was about storm chasing. Even though he chases for a living and he’s seen pretty much everything, he still gets very excited when he sees a pretty supercell, and he shows it. He’s also very knowledgeable, as I’d expect a tour guide to be. But he had some moments where he seemed like a psychic, which really impressed me. The one that stuck out to me most was the time he booked a hotel in Sturgis, SD the day BEFORE the chase, knowing that the chase would likely take us there. And lo and behold, the chase literally ended on the outskirts of the town, so we only had to drive about 10 minutes to our hotel. The other guides, Colt and Steve, had experience with chasing too, and they were always available to answer questions when Erik was busy looking at data.

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