Brian Barnes - Bio Page

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 enjoys teaching our clients not only about storm chasing, but photography as well.  Outside of the short tour season, Brian works as a year round photographer and dedicates most of his work towards various conservation and wildlife issues.  He is photographer on the board of advisors at Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project and has traveled around the globe to expose such issues as the inhumane slaughter of dolphins throughout Japan.

While working in Japan during March of 2011, Brian was in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture just 50 miles from the epicenter of the 9.0 earthquake, the 3rd largest in world history and experienced the tsunami which destroyed the entire coastline around him and a small team of ocean conservationist.  Brian credits his formal training in emergency management and his long history of dealing with natural disasters as the reason he was able to survive the Japanese tsunami and remain calm throughout the ordeal.