tornado chasing tours, storm chasing tours and tornadoes.

Status: Tour leader during Tour 3 and the Master Class tour. David will be supporting all other tours from the office (except during Tour 3 and the Master Class time slot).

Hello, everyone! I live just east of Denver Colorado in the heart of the high plains where tornadoes and supercells rule. I have been chasing for nearly 17 years and love it! I have seen and videotaped over 150 tornadoes in the past 4 years alone. I spend an average of 120 days between March and October chasing, shooting video for various media outlets and having a BLAST! I have also been a probe driver for various National Severe Storms Laboratory projects and teach Skywarn training at several locations across the plains. During my tenure as a guide, David and I have become very good friends and that has led to some magical forecasting and chase results for you and us! This year I am excited to lead the shorter tours from Denver. I have been contracted by The Weather Channel for the past 7 years to shoot and edit video of everything from tornadoes to floods to blizzards and hailstorms. I have also done much work for The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, National Geographic, The Travel Channel and several more. I am also a severe weather videographer and reporter for a local Denver TV station!

Nothing thrills me more than to get you in perfect view of a gorgeous sculpted supercell complete with an awe-inspiring incredible tornado! So come out with Silver Lining Tours for the adventure of a lifetime!!!

Mr. Hill is definitely one of the best storm chasers in the world. He has an uncanny knack for finding atmospheric vorticies, even in the most hopeless looking situations! His intuition is second to none. Roger and David have developed a fantastic rapport and working relationship, something that definitely contributes to our success. Roger is now SLT Tour Director and is in the process of formalizing his status as tour owner. He is always glad to answer your questions. He is well-liked and respected by all tour participants!

Status: Tour Director. Roger will lead Tours 1 and 2. Roger will also lead tours 5-8, the Waterspout Adventure and the new Canadian Prairies Tour. At these times, David will stay back at the office in Houston ready to provide up-to-the-minute weather information and logistical support as needed, except during Tour 3 and the Master Class time slots.

Hello everyone and welcome to another season of storm chasing with SLT! I'm from NE Oklahoma where the storms run wild and I'm a member of the storm team at Oklahoma's NewsChannel 8 in Tulsa. I have chased severe weather for 11 years and love every minute of my time when I'm on the road with the great team at SLT. You won't find a more experienced or educated group of storm chasers anywhere else. If there is a storm brewing, were there and you can relax in the comfort of the touring vans while we get you there safely. You've probably seen us television and said to yourself, "I want to do that sometime." Well, now is the time! We had a blast during the 2004 season and once again, I made many wonderful new friends. Storms are fun to chase and we take great pride in chasing them safely! It's been a long winter and I can't wait to get on the trail of a supercell that's ready to explode over the plains! Looking forward to meeting all of you and enjoying our time together on one of the most exciting weeks you're sure to ever experience!

Brian is an expert driver and trained emergency medical technician, having actually saved lives in the field before.

Hello everyone! I have a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from Texas A&M University where I first met Dave Gold in 1993 (gosh, has it been that long?) I've been chasing storms since 1990. During the first few summers I photographed lightning from awesome monsoon thunderstorms in Arizona and sea-breeze thunderstorms in central Florida while working on the CaPE research project. I've even chased storms in the Brazilian rainforest (of all places!) during the TRMM-LBA research project in 1999. In the mid-90's I got my first taste of chasing supercells in the Plains ... there's nothing else like it! I've worked with SLT in 2000, 2002 and 2004, and eagerly look forward to Tour 3, 2005. It's always a privilege to chase with Dave and Roger, two of the best storm chasers anywhere, and to share the incomparable experience of storm chasing with tour participants. Hope to see you on Tour 3!

Rick is an SLT veteran, having served as guide on several previous expeditions. Currently a research scientist at the Boyd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University, Rick will once again serve as resident meteorology expert on 2005 Tour 3. Rick is Red Cross certified in Adult first-Aid/CPR. And he's a heck of nice guy, as well!

Status: 2005 Tour 3.

Hi, I’m Alister Chapman. I am from England. I am a professional television cameraman and editor. I am a member of the Guild of Television Cameramen and have a degree in Electronics. I have produced programs about tornado chasing for National Geographic and have also worked for CNN, Discovery Channel, PrimeTime, the BBC and many other television broadcasters around the world.

I love to chase storms and run a UK storm chasing group. I am an experienced driver used to driving in dangerous conditions (I used to compete in motor rallies at international level, achieving many class victories). This will be my third year with Silver Lining Tours. My roles include the installation and maintenance of the radio and video links in the vans. To ensure the group get the most from their cameras and camcorders, and to film the tours and produce the highlights video. I will have a portable editing system and will be able to show anyone interested how to edit and copy tapes. I will be able to advise guests on what video/stills equipment to bring and how to get the most from it, my email address is alister.chapman@ntlworld.com. In addition I have First Aid and CPR training. Please visit my "Storm Chase UK" website.

Alister is a remarkable individual. About as talented a technician, engineer and videographer as one could hope to find on this planet, he lends incalculable value to your tour experience. For one, he now creates the annual highlights videos to which all participants are entitled as part of our package. Additionally, he helps wire the vans, install the equipment and make sure that everything works together smoothly so that the technology becomes a help and not a hindrance, something that is known to occur with other operations! He is a warm, friendly individual and everyone very much enjoys his presence!

Status: Tour guide - 2005 Tour 2.

tornado chasing tours, storm chasing, adventure

Bill Gargan:

Hi! I have a M.S. in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma and a B.S. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Michigan. I a founding father of Silver Lining Tours and a part-time tour guide. I was the driver of Probe 1, the vehicle responsible for sampling the near-tornado environment, during the recent Verification of the ORigin of Tornadoes EXperiment (VORTEX). I also participated in Silver Lining Tours on Tour 4 in 1999 and helped us to see a spectacular tornado in Montana. I've always wanted to see a tornado in Montana! I had a lot fun being a tour guide during the '2000, '2001 and '2002 tours. I have been storm chasing in the plains since 1991, and in the Midwest since 1985. Currently, I am a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Topeka, Kansas, in the heart of "Tornado Alley". My hobbies include weightlifting, running, biking, hiking and cross country skiing.

Bill will help out with the forecasting and nowcasting during every tour. While a tour guide on the Master Class Tour, he will be working with David on the forecasting, driving the tour van, and will help to answer your questions. Bill has been driving tour vans and teaching our participants about severe weather since 1999.

Bill and David are best friends that each year have the opportunity to co-operate the special education tour (MC tour) designed to give participants a more educational and participatory storm chasing experience. We eagerly look forward to doing this very fulfilling tour yet again!

Status: Co-leader of the Master Class Tour each year. Bill will be supporting all the other tours with forecasts and nowcasts.

Each year, in additon to the highly talented and experienced crew listed here, we have the opportunity to feature as tour guides well-respected accomplished storm chasers and scientists. This will be the case once again this year.

Hello fellow storm chasers. I live about an hour outside of Toronto, Canada about 10 minutes from Niagara Falls. I have been priviledged to be driving with SLT since 2001. This will be my 6th tour. While I have served with both the police and volunteer fire services in the past, my passion to seek out monster storms, and the occasional Texas Bull Snake, remains constant. Every year, I continue to be amazed at the skills of the SLT guides.....Dr. Gold, Bill, Roger Hill ( the rumours are not true, Roger is NOT my Dad ) and Alister “sour worms” Chapman to name a few. I have watched some previous participants, ie. Stu and Ed, grow in knowledge to become quite the forcasters themselves through the knowledge passed on by these guys. I am once again looking forward to watching the faces of the participants when we “catch” the next one. See ya in OKC on Tour 1.

Warning: The content of this site, including but not limited to the text and images herein and their arrangement, are copyright © 2001 Silver Lining Tours, L.C. (hereafter referred to as "Company"). All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use including, but not limited to, reproduction, transfer, transmission, dissemination and storage in a retrieval system of any content of this website is strictly prohibited. Company owns the following trademarks: ATMOSPHERIC ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME^{^TM}. Any unauthorized use of this trademark is an infringement of Company's rights and is strictly prohibited. The "look" and "feel" of Company's website is also Company's trademark.

Tour Guides:

Bio's:

Dr. David Gold:

Nothing thrills me more than to get you in perfect view of a gorgeous sculpted supercell complete with an awe-inspiring incredible tornado! So come out with Silver Lining Tours for the adventure of a lifetime!!!

Status: Tour guide - 2005 Tour 2.

Bill Gargan:

Each year, in additon to the highly talented and experienced crew listed here, we have the opportunity to feature as tour guides well-respected accomplished storm chasers and scientists. This will be the case once again this year.