South Shields storm chaser says 'I can't imagine I'll ever be frightened'

Storm chaser Abbi Adair told ITV News Tyne Tees Presenter Amy Lea what drives her passion for extreme weather

A self confessed thrill-seeker with a passion for extreme weather is dedicating weeks of her free time to chasing storms.

Abbi Adair, from South Shields, told ITV Tyne Tees "I can't imagine I'll ever be frightened" after spending six years tailing everything from tornadoes to thunder and lightening.

The 50-year-old was inspired by the film Twister, the loss of her nephew and her long-time interest in extreme weather.

Abbi said: "As a child, I grew up in Aberdeen, so we were used to really heavy snow.

"I've always loved thunder and lightning, torrential rain, anything like that. And I loved Wizard of Oz as a child.

"After watching the first Twister movie, I started to do a bit of research and realised it wasn't all university students collecting data for research and found out that you can actually book to go on these tours yourself."

Abbi's unusual hobby has seen her travel thousands of miles across the United States. Her last trip, in June, was an 11-day tour covering 4,500 miles.

She has witnessed hail stones the size of golf balls, flash flooding, thunder and lightening storms lasting more than eight hours and an "amazing" S-bend tornado in Colorado's Prospect Valley.

'They look like gigantic motherships'

"Initially what you're looking at is the sky," continued Abbi. "The skies out there just appear bigger because you've got a lot less buildings around and you start to see supercells form, which are the storms which produce the thunder and lightning.

"You need certain conditions to produce a thunderstorm and a supercell. And when supercells eventually do form, they look like gigantic motherships in front of you and it causes rotations of the wind.

"You need a lot of moisture in the air. You need cold and warm fronts to hit each other. It causes a rotation in the clouds. And then lo and behold, sometimes if you're lucky, a tornado drops."

The team works alongside a climatologist and, while they are never in the eye of the storm, they are always on its tail.

But Abbi said she does not feel the fear. Instead, she is just in awe of the "power of nature".

"I don't find it scary," she added. "I'm sure some people would. And I think the locals we meet think we're crazy for coming out all of this way to chase the weather, but I find it exhilarating."

It is not all fun however, with tours requiring journeys of up to ten hours spent in a van.

Otherwise, Abbi said the only other downside is the "humidity and mosquitoes".

Organised tours are pricey - costing up to about five thousand dollars - but Abbi is addicted and will be returning for two back-to-back tours in 2026.

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