How much do storm chasers make?

Chasers can earn even more if they allow citizens to ride along on their missions. People will typically pay $3,500 to tag along on a storm chaser mission. For storm chasers who are able to become a star in the field, they can earn salary ranges in the top 86%.

Reed Timmer gained his fame on the Discovery Channel show "Storm Chasers" and now works as an extreme meterologist for AccuWeather. He has amassed a net worth of $250,000; however, many storm chasers are freelance and will only make as much as they are able to sell.

While private industry storm chasers can make a decent salary, freelance storm chasers have it much harder. There are a lot of costs required for the job. According to the site StormChase.us, in a year, a typical freelance storm chaser can expect to spend $5,000 on equipment. They can also expect to spend:

• $6,200 on a vehicle

• $1,500 for food and hotels

• $1,000 for cell phone service

This comes to a total of $13,700 in expenses. In a good year, a freelance storm chaser may catch 20 tornadoes and sell the footage for approximately $500 each. This means they would earn $10,000 per year. This means that they would actually lose money for the year.

Unless you are are employed full-time by a television station or other private company, you are better off pursing storm chasing as a hobby rather than as a primary source of income.