Woman spends her vacations chasing twisters across the US

By Izzy Hawksworth via SWNS

A British social worker has spent thousands of pounds on her unusual hobby of chasing supercell tornados and electrical storms across the United States.

Storm chaser Abbi Adair, 50, says she is "never scared" despite braving giant hailstones, whirlwinds and huge storms as part of her pursuit.

She went on her first tour, which costs around £9,000 altogether including flights, in 2018 and since then has been on three more trips to see extreme weather.

But despite seeing such extreme weather conditions including supercell tornados - which are the most dangerous type - the social worker insists she's never felt unsafe.

Abbi said: "I've never, ever felt unsafe when I've been chasing storms.

"It's exciting, it's exhilarating but I don't have that fear in me.

"I think I've got a very good understanding and respect of Mother Nature because I know the damage she can cause.

"But I don't think I'm frightened as I'm more excited than anything else.

"I've not been scared yet but that's possibly because I've not been caught up in something so close that's made me feel like there's a risk.

"But there's times where we've had to drive under storm drains to keep us safe, because the hail stones are so big that they would smash the windows in.

"If we were outside, then they are big enough to kill you.

"So there's times when it's spectacular but no I've never ever been scared."

Abbi says she's "always been fascinated with extreme weather" after watching "The Wizard of Oz" when she was younger.

But after her nephew passed away aged 17, she decided to book onto a tour and since then, she's "just been addicted to it."

Abbi said: "When I go back to my childhood, I just remember the Wizard of Oz - I think that was the first tornado I had ever heard about.

"I have always been fascinated with extreme weather - it could be snow, ice or extreme heat.

"Then Twisters came out and I thought it was only researchers and university students who did that sort of thing, I didn't realize people actually do it.

"I just googled it and realized you could book tours to go storm chasing and then it was something I considered for a few years.

"I then decided to do what makes me happy because life is too short.

"So I booked one of the tours.

"It was the best experience I've ever had and from that point, I've just been addicted to it."

Abbi, of South Shields, Tyne and Wear, went on her most recent tour in June this year, where she covered a whopping 4,500 miles in 11 days.

She says there's normally around six holidaymakers on the tour and the guide makes the decision of what area they will travel to.

They then get in position for the storm and find the best viewpoint to look at it and take some pictures, while being told information about the structure of it.

The group will then move depending on where the tornado goes but Abbi said there's been times where she's been chasing them until midnight.

She said: "The thunder and lightning can be spectacular.

"But the mosquitos can unfortunately be pretty nasty sometimes because of the conditions out there.

"If we ever have a day where there's not a storm, we have a 'down day' where they will make a decision on where a storm will be in the next day or two.

"There will be days where we are driving huge distances, sometimes nine hours a day."

Abbi says the best thing she has ever witnessed was a tornado with a funnel cloud on her first tour which she has described as "spectacular."

She said: "You can go on tours for years and not actually see a tornado with a funnel cloud so we was really lucky.

"Me and my friend were hugging each other crying.

"It was such a spectacular tornado, it wasn't a wide one but it was very pretty.

"The top of my bucket list would be to see a really wide one.

"But one of my favorite things is a supercell clouds, which forms a tornado.

"They often look like spaceships and look like something that's solid in the sky.

"Obviously it's not because they are in the sky and made up of clouds and moisture but they are just absolutely spectacular to see."