Chasing storms with Silver Lining Tours and its proprietor, Roger Hill, is a real adventure. The very first thing to know at the outset is that tornadoes and big super cell storms are not guaranteed. How can they be if the weather does not cooperate? On the other hand, if a storm is within reasonable driving distance, Roger Hill will be there and be there safely.

Storms do not usually start rocking until 4 or 5 pm, so mornings and afternoons are spent either driving to an anticipated location to sight a storm and begin the chase. That drive may be several hundred miles. Or it is spent "hanging out" waiting for the storms to develop. The "hanging out" may be a late sleep at the hotel, lounging around the hotel, but more commonly sitting in a Diary Queen or truck stop in some small Texas, Kansas, or Oklahoma town, sometimes for several hours. Then Roger will say "Let's go!" and we may drive 150 miles to an area where he thinks a storm will develop in the next few hours.

Our tour, #6, 8-16 June, chased in eastern Colorado, central Kansas, northeast New Mexico, and the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles - that is, the southwest part of "Tornado Alley". We drove as much as 775 miles in one day; total mileage was about 2900 miles in the five days. We saw only one "certified" tornado. On the other hand, we chased a magnificent super cell storm in New Mexico for several hours, complete with its phenomenal lightning, a drenching rain, and egg-sized hail.