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MOST OF US choose our holiday on the basis of weather. Good weather, that is, and the likelihood that we’ll get it. Some, however, like their weather bad. Really bad.

Storm Chasing Adventure Tours brings holidaymakers to the US zone between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains, popularly known as Tornado Alley.

In fact, if you’ve ever seen a US tornado on the news, it’s quite possible these guys provided the footage, running as they do up and down the Great Plains of the United States in search of some of nature’s most violent eruptions.

Each morning on your six-day tour, the firm analyses satellite imagery and other weather data to forecast the best severe weather target for the day.

What they are looking for are explosive supercell thunderstorms, vivid lightning, large hail, massive wall clouds and, if you’re really lucky, violent tornadoes.

The tour company bases itself at different parts of Tornado Alley depending on the time of year and where storms are most likely.

Drives of up to 800km a day are routine and, as the best time to catch a supercell thunder storm is, apparently, late afternoon and early evening, days are long, especially if there’s a good lightning show in the area to keep everybody up at night.

When things get really twisty, you’ll be jockeying for position with the 40-strong convoy of research vehicles from the US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Science Foundation – guys for whom storm chasing is a job not a holiday. A six-day storm chasing tour including seven nights’ accommodation and all transportation costs $2,600 (€2,114).

• stormchasing.com