Brian Barnes - Manager, Tour Director

Brian is one of the most sought out storm chasers in the world and has been the subject of numerous documentary films, most recently Our World: Storm Chasers, produced and broadcast by the BBC throughout Europe. He has also worked on numerous television and film projects such as Gethin Jones’ Danger Hunters (Virgin Media), Tornado Chasers (National Geographic Television) and much more.

Brian began storm chasing as a teenager and even missed his high school prom due to a tornado threat near Tulsa, OK. He has intercepted more than 350 tornadoes in the past 15 years and more than 220 of those occurred while conducting a tour.

Brian split his childhood between homes in Kansas and Oklahoma. In fact, his hometown of Pryor, Oklahoma was completely destroyed in 1942 by an F4 tornado that nearly killed his grandfather’s young family and is still to this day listed as Oklahoma’s 5th deadliest tornado disaster.

After another major tornado destroyed Pitcher, Oklahoma near Brian’s hometown he founded the Tornado Angel Foundation, a non-profit organization that raised more than $75,000.00 of estimated goods in its first week of operation to assist tornado victims with their immediate needs, such as furnishings, in which 100 percent was donated to the victims of the Pitcher, OK disaster through channel partners like the Salvation Army.

Brian is currently working towards a masters degree in Meterology and is an Air Force trained weather forecaster. He is an avid photographer, ham radio operator and spends much of his off-season educating kids in area schools on subjects such as severe weather safety.