Tour Leader

Hi Guys! I am Paul and I am 50 years old and live in Leigh On Sea (Essex) with my wife Louise and 3 daughters. 2023 will be my 20th Year chasing in Tornado Alley having witnessed 248 Tornadoes to date and several hundred Supercells. My favourite events of the past few years include the Dodge City and Pilger Outbreaks. My favourite place to chase is in the High Plains of Colorado.

Driver & Technical

Hi Guys! I am Graham or ‘Gee’ for short! 

I reside on the Northern side of Manchester with my Wife Sarah and Son Jack. I've worked  in the cycling industry for over 20 years.

I have been fascinated with severe weather since as far back as I can remember. Calm weather is boring weather in my books! Storm chasing has started to be part of my life, from being a guest to having a major role in the team of lead driver and looking after all things technical. Over the years I have seen a lot of spectacular storms, damaging hail and insane structure to top off the amazing chase days. My highlight must be the Dodge City day in 2016, a near stationary stovepipe along with 18 Tornadoes from one storm! 

I love the dynamic of a chase tour, the banter, the adrenaline and of course the giggles! I am not to shabby with a camera these days after picking up techniques from people who know what they are doing and I have had the odd "perfect shot" to boast about, I will always try and help out with camera settings If i get them right myself!

BRING ON THE STORMS!

Driver & Technical

I'm Nick Finnis, 48 years old and live with my wife and son in Caterham, Surrey. My main job in my normal life is working for a DEFRA agency as a biosecurity inspector at Heathrow & Gatwick Airports. I also write articles for Netweather, including thunderstorm forecasts for the UK.

I first got fascinated by the weather in the 1980s. As a child then I remember the long snowy spells in winter and all-night MCS thunderstorms in summer. Probably the most exciting year for weather, yet to be beaten, was 1987, with the extreme cold and snowfall of January, then experiencing the power of the Great Storm of October. Ever since, I have been obsessed with the weather. But my main cravings are for the severe thunderstorms in the USA.

So, I was thrilled to be invited to go chasing storms in the USA with Paul Botten in May 2007, which was the very first Weather Holidays tour. The following year I did 3 tours, one of which I got to spend 10 days in the company of the legendary Michael Fish.

I have now driven for Weather Holidays on 6 tours, so have good experience of driving in all conditions and terrain to keep up with the storms. I enjoy the camaraderie of the tours and sharing my knowledge and passion to guests. Probably the best tour was in 2015, when we witnessed several tornadoes in eastern Colorado, including a supercell that had a tornado and landspout on the ground simultaneously. So, I look forward to getting out on the wide-open plains again this year to witness the power of these severe storms.

Driver & Forecaster

Hi my name is Tom. I have been interested in storms since well before England won the World Cup. I actively chased since my first interaction with a tornado in Arkansas, April 1979. Since 2000 I have been out on the plains virtually every year that has been possible. I have many years experience in chasing storms. In addition to my love of nature, I am Founder Ambassador and long term season ticket holder of Preston North End, I also have a great love for music and have played in several bands since 1970. I am now retired, married with two children, four grandsons, with whom I share my millions of exciting stories which they love to hear. I have lost count of the number of tornadoes that I have been lucky enough to see. El Reno, Dodge City, Katie tornado and Wray are just a few memorable events seen over the years with Weatherholidays.

Hi my name is Rich Betts, I live in West Sussex with fellow chaser & wife Kirstie. I have been chasing storms in the US & Canada since 2012 and a driver since 2022. I have a passion for all things weather, outdoors and adventure.

My fascination for the weather and especially storms started when I lived in Africa as a small boy watching the monsoon CGs march up the garden and the entire house shaking with each strike. Since then I spend as much time as I can learning how to study the forecasts and experiencing weather phenomenon.

As a professional International Mountain Leader and Co-Founder of my own walking adventure company leading adventures in the mountains in the UK and beyond. Mountain weather forecasting is an important part of my role, along with guiding my clients in challenge conditions.

I have spent over 25 years in the frontline including the Fire Service, First Responser and Team Leader for a Search & Rescue Team which involves spending a lot of time out in all weather on live searches.

Hi I’m Kieran, 32 years young, and live in Worthing, West Sussex, UK.

My day-to-day is working in IT as a Field Engineer, driving about the UK fixing, scoping, and installing IT solutions for small/medium/large sized businesses.

My interest in storms, tornadoes, and extreme weather in general, all started from around the age of 5. I lived abroad in Brunei, South-East Asia back in the day, and living on the equator in a tropical climate, we had thunderstorms almost daily. I remember just staring at the huge thunderheads that rolled in, in awe, and was fascinated every time. What really peaked my interest was when my parents bought a pirated copy of Twister on VHS around the time it was released circa 1996. I must have watched that movie 100 times in the 90’s and I’m sure I bored my friends playing it on repeat! I watched it so much that the copy was near unwatchable when the 2000’s rolled in.

I’ve chased out on the plains as of 2022, starting with a small group of people I met online, but happened to bump into Paul and his team along the way and got to know the guys. I’m now part of the driving team and couldn’t be happier!

Super excited for the road ahead in storm chasing. So many great adventures to come.

Hi my name is Daniel and I am 54 years old and live in Essex, when not driving for Weather Holidays I work in the Transport Logistics area for major Supermarket chains. I have been a driver since 2015 and have also seen the Aurora whilst out in the USA when a huge KP9 Solar Storm impacted the USA on the 21st June 2015! I am an avid Mountaineer having climbed all the Peaks in the UK and also help run a Scouts Group in my spare time. I am also a keen photographer and can help with anybodys camera settings for that perfect picture of a Tornado. I will be guiding in 2024 on the Eclipse Tour.

My name is Ben Cooper. I am 47 years old and live in Stanford le hope ( Essex ) with my wife Gemma and 2 sons. I am a Bodyshop manager repairing all sorts of cars for Insurance Companies. I am an avid Spurs Fan and a BBQ Master! My first Tornado was in Texas in 2019 and my favourite was in Kansas in June 2022! Have been chasing storms with WeatherHolidays as a driver since 2019 and have loved every tour and love meeting new and returning guests year on year.

Hi I’m Dusty, 57, Born n bred in Gravesend, Kent.
My first memory of a storm is one day that turned to night and I hid under a blanket as bright flashes and loud bangs erupted, I wanted my parents but they were out, Completely ruined my 50th birthday!
Ok I was actually around 6/7 years old. I started work in an electrical store in town and bought my first camera, Thus taking my first lightning photos around 1985?
It was a long wait for the developing process but after a few misses I got my first photos of Lightning.
I went out in the great storm of 1987, It was a bit windy.
Then came the music years in the 1990s. In the Early 2000s
I used to watch Storm chasers on Discovery channel with my little brother which further ignited my passion for Storms. And so in 2013 I finally did my first organised tour which led to going out to the US most years since, making great friends along the way.
I worked in music for years with DJ’s and hung out with bands so have travelled a lot but the last few years have accelerated the weather bug again.
I was shortlisted for world astronomy photographer of the year in 2017 for an Aurora photo from Iceland.
I’ve also been published a couple of times by the Royal Meteorological Society in books.
I’ve seen quite a few tornadoes and amazing storms.
Nowadays I’m more interested in rare atmospherics and less common weather happenings!

Hi, I'm Jernej, 29 years old. I come from Maribor, the 2nd largest city in Slovenia, and I've been chasing and photographing storms since 2009. This is my 4th tour with Weatherholidays and my 3rd as a driver. I also chase storms in Europe, mostly in Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and Germany.

Professionally I am a chemical engineer and work as a process expert at Sandoz (pharmaceutical company).

I have a 1 year old son David with my fiancee Anja, and a dog, named Stormy.

I am extremely thankful to Netweather, for an amazing opportunity, to be able to come to USA every year and do what I love the most- chase storms and admire the power of mother nature.

I'm Jeff Prescott, a 48-year-old storm enthusiast with over a decade of chasing experience. The thrill of witnessing the raw power of Mother Nature up close has become my greatest passion. There's an undeniable exhilaration in navigating the open country in pursuit of these awe-inspiring phenomena.

Beyond storm chasing, I lead a fulfilling life. I'm happily married with three boys aged 20, 18, and 16— Professionally, I manage a region for On Side Restoration in Eastern Ontario, Canada, specializing in insurance restoration.

My journey into storm chasing began with organized tours, but over time, I ventured out independently, honing my skills and deepening my understanding of these natural phenomena. Now, I'm thrilled to be part of the Weather Holidays tour group—a community of enthusiastic individuals who share my passion for chasing storms.

Hi, I'm Melody, 34 years old. My passion for tornadoes started when I was 6 and got worse when I saw the movie Twister. I already loved extreme weather, but when I saw that movie, I knew what I wanted to do in life: chase the swirly things! Fast forward to now, I've been working as a meteorologist for more than 10 years, and for the last 4 years, I've been working as a severe weather meteorologist, where I forecast everything from heavy rainfall, large hail, and supercells to tornadoes. In my free time I like to go chase storms in my "backyard" and in the US. I chased my first storm in 2004 when I was 14 years old, when I made it just in time to go through hurricane Frances in Florida. Since 2017 I've been able to chase as a meteorologist, first a couple of years for a Dutch chase team called Tornadojagers and since 2019 for Netweather. I have also been hurricane chasing 2017, 2018 and 2019, with the best chase getting in the eye of category 3 hurricane Irma in Naples, Florida. 2 favourite tornado chase days spring to mind  : a multi-vortex storm with multiple tornadoes forming at the same time near Cheyenne, Wyoming on 27 May 2018 and the other, 4 tornadoes in one day with at one time 2 landspouts and 1 tornado ongoing near Perryton, Texas on 15 June 2023. I also love large hail, crawlers (lightning) and beautiful structure on storms. When there's no storm to be found I volunteer for the emergency services and sometimes go hiking or  exploring the underwater world.