TempestTours®  SCE

Tours # 1 and #2

Tour #1 - F5 Classroom Tour  Exclusive Tour Limited to 6 Guests
Base City: Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas  Depart from and return to Dallas-Ft. Worth.

Our veteran chase team will lead 6 guests on this exclusive tour.  Each participant will receive a storm chasing handbook of their own, an F5 Classroom Tour certificate and daily hands-on training from our staff.  Guests will experience in-depth briefings and will be allowed to take part in the forecasting of each day's target.  Book now as this tour is expected to sell out quickly.

Our base location for this tour is Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW), the largest metropolitan area in Tornado Alley.  The F5 Classroom Tour is scheduled to coincide with the peak of violent-class (F4-F5) tornado activity in North Texas.

Our Arlington base hotel offers a free airport shuttle, free local shuttle and trolly to restaurants and entertainment venues like Hurricane Harbor, Six Flags Over Texas and Texas Rangers Baseball, free breakfast, complimentary happy hour, free high-speed Internet access, exercise room and heated swimming pool.

DFW weather venues include the National Weather Service Forecast Office and National Weather Service Southern Region Headquarters in Ft. Worth.

The map above depicts F4-F5 tornado maximum for early May, the chart depicts F4-F5 tornado maximum for North Central Texas (centered over DFW).  Source: National Severe Storms Laboratory.

Tempest Tours is a proud sponsor of  the TESSA 2007 National Storm Conference.  The biggest event in Tornado Alley!

Tour #2 - Mid-May Tour 
Base City: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma  Depart from and return to Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City (OKC) becomes our base city beginning with Tour #2 as the average annual tornado activity shifts slightly northward.  Weather venues located nearby in Norman include the National Severe Storms Laboratory, Storm Prediction Center and the OU School of Meteorology.  Allow extra time to see Oklahoma City prior to and after your tour!  Our Oklahoma City base hotel offers a free airport shuttle, complimentary continental breakfast,  exercise room and swimming pool.  Nearby attractions include: Fairgrounds, Myriad Convention Center, Downtown, Remington Race track, Cowboy Hall of Fame, OKC Zoo, Frontier City, 89ers Baseball and White Water Bay.

We support autism awareness.  Visit the Autism Research Institute.  Learn about RDI at the Connections Center.

The Meteorology of our early and mid-May tours (Tour # 1 and #2)

This is the most volatile portion of the storm season in Tornado Alley, when potent upper-level dynamics clash with emerging thermodynamics.  These parameters sometime lead to tornado outbreaks, when multiple storms produce significant tornadoes within a 24-hour period.  Texas is especially active during the early-May period, with the focus translating slightly northward to Oklahoma in mid-May.

Some noteworthy early to mid-May events intercepted by our staff include:

Central OK, May 3, 1999.  Large, deadly tornado tracked along I-44, later striking Moore (F5).
Tennessee Colony, TX, May 4, 1999.  Strong tornado struck prison.  Oklahoma Panhandle/Southwest KS, May 5, 1993.  3 tornadoes, 2 large, on ground 2 hours.  Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX, May 5, 1995.  Potent supercell produced softball hail, $1 billion damage.  Happy, TX, May 5, 2002.  Large, deadly tornado.  Cullison, KS, May 7, 2003.  Large, damaging tornado.  Yates Center, KS, large tornado, May 8, 2003.  Oklahoma City, OK metro area, large tornado, May 9, 2003.  Northern Missouri, three tornadoes, May 10, 2003.  May 12, 2004, Attica, Kansas (4 tornadoes). May 22, 2004 Jefferson - Saline Co., Nebraska (2 tornadoes).  May 24, 2004 Thayer Co., Nebraska and Republic Co., Kansas (4 tornadoes).  May 26, 2004 Noble Co., Oklahoma (1 tornado).  May 8, 2005 Bellingham, Minnesota (2 tornadoes).  May 10, 2005 Central City, Nebraska (1 tornado).  May 13, 2005 Weinert, Texas (2 tornadoes).

Other notable early to mid-May Tornado Alley events include:

Waco, TX, May 11, 1953.  F5 tornado destroyed central district. 114 fatalities.
San Angelo, TX, May 11, 1953.  F4 tornado.
Silverton, TX, May 15, 1957.  Deadly tornado.
Lubbock, TX, May 11, 1970.  F5 tornado destroys central areas of town.

Our goal is to intercept the best storm of the day anywhere on the Great Plains, from Texas to the Dakotas, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River.

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