History Series / StormChasers

* StockFootageFailure: A lot of the travel shots of the vehicles are StockFootage and it starts to get noticeable after a while. In particular, Season 4 has a couple of {{Series Continuity Error}}s where the JollyRoger that Sean hangs from [=TIV2=] in episode 7 is clearly visible several episodes before it actually happens.

** Averted as they have vehicles specifically designed to go into them (the TIV, the [=TIV2=], and the Dominator).
** Subverted on a couple of occasions with the Dominator, as it's not intended to go into the strongest tornadoes. One time a window was blown out, and another time the vehicle was shifted sideways several feet.

** Both [=TIVs=] have a lot of technical difficulties. [=TIV1=] is built on a used Ford F-450 dualie and is just old and worn-out: by the beginning of season 3 it's a rustbucket. [=TIV2=] is new and custom-built, and has a bunch of teething problems that lead to it spending a whole extra year in the shop after breaking an axle and then losing two wheels off the rear axle in separate incidents, ''then'' busts a sway-bar almost immediately after he gets it back. Sean counts himself lucky the sway-bar didn't take out the brake line in the process. ''Then'' a wheel bearing wears out, but fortunately the truck stop they pull into has the part in stock and is able to replace it quickly.
** Josh's original Doppler on Wheels (DOW) is also a bit of a mess. The truck is completely missing its right headlight throughout season 1, and suffers electronics failures twice that lead to missing tornadoes: a bad monitor cable, and an incident where the power goes out, and then comes back on with the radar offset causing the display to read backwards. Josh replaces the DOW before season 2 and has no further problems.
** In the season 3 finale, TVN intercepts a brewing tornado, only for the bulletproof glass window on the driver's side to get stuck. This lets a piece of debris smashes the window, spraying Reed and Chris with broken glass. Reed's lucky he didn't lose an eye. In the next season premiere, Reed passes Sean's [=TIV2=] on the road to show off how much faster he is, only for the Rhino lining panel on the roof to detach, much to Sean's amusement.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: It need hardly be said that Mother Nature isn't exactly interested in helping film a documentary reality show: large parts of the series, especially season 1, consist of the various teams aimlessly driving back and forth across the plains, failing to intercept tornadoes that do something unexpected, or worse, [[SceneryGorn looking on in horror as they wipe entire towns off the map]].

* DontTryThisAtHome: Each episode starts with a disclaimer stating that the teams are all trained storm chasers and what they do shouldn't be attempted at home. Josh also once says it to the cameraman during a chase.

* CoolCar: The Tornado Intercept Vehicles (TIV and [=TIV2=]), the Dominator, and the Doppler On Wheels (DOW) trucks are all heavily reinforced and packed with computers, camera equipment, and radar, with the DOW trucks packing massive Doppler antennas. The Dominator can even lower itself down to place its shell directly on the ground.

* EyeScream: In one of the earlier seasons, the Dominator's driver side window shattered during a tornado, spraying the occupants with broken glass. After the worst of the wind passes by, Reed says "My eyes are bleeding".
* FinaglesLaw: Aside from the various vehicle breakdowns suffered by Josh and Sean, and situations where various teams drop probes only for the tornado to change directions on them, Reed struggles with his idea to launch parachute probes into a tornado. His first attempt has the probes get swatted into the ground by downdrafts, then when he finally ''does'' get a couple of them into the tornado, they can't recover the probes because they're taken out of transmitter range so they have no idea where they went. The third time, Reed gets probes with more powerful transmitters and has Joel drive right into an oncoming tornado to get them inside.

** Several chases, especially early in the series, involve tornadoes that are either hidden in the night, or wrapped in rain and invisible. At one point Josh's truck-mounted Doppler radar goes out, and he fixes it just in time to warn his team of a giant tornado bearing down on them.

** Both [=TIVs=] have a lot of technical difficulties. [=TIV1=] is built on a used Ford F-450 dualie and is just old and worn-out: by the beginning of season 3 it's a rustbucket. [=TIV2=] is new and custom-built, and has a bunch of teething problems that lead to it spending a whole extra year in the shop after breaking an axle and then losing two wheels off the rear axle in separate incidents, ''then'' busts a sway-bar almost immediately after he gets it back. Sean counts himself lucky the sway-bar didn't take out the brake line in the process.

** 4x2 features the Dominator chasing a reported tornado through the woods of Mississippi, completely blinded by the terrain. They only get a good look at it once, and it is ''enormous''. Minutes later, they arrive in Yazoo City right after the [=EF4=] monster demolished half the town.

** Both [=TIVs=] have a lot of technical difficulties. [=TIV1=] is built on a used Ford F-450 dualie and is just old and worn-out: it's put in the shop by a bearing failure in season 2, and by the beginning of season 3 it's a rustbucket. [=TIV2=] is new and custom-built, and has a bunch of teething problems that lead to it spending a whole extra year in the shop after breaking an axle and then losing two wheels off the rear axle in separate incidents, ''then'' busts a sway-bar almost immediately after he gets it back. Sean counts himself lucky the sway-bar didn't take out the brake line in the process.

* NothingIsScarier: Season 4 episode 2 features the Dominator chasing a reported tornado through the woods of Mississippi, completely blinded by the terrain. They only get a good look at it once, and it is ''enormous''. Minutes later, they arrive in Yazoo City right after the [=EF4=] monster demolished half the town.

* WhatTheHellHero: Josh chews out Sean in 4x6 after Sean's driver tries to get past a traffic jam of amateur chasers by driving in the oncoming traffic lane and gets filmed doing it on somebody's dash cam. This results in him being ordered to stay 75 miles away from Josh's project [=VORTEX2=] for the last two episodes of the season or else lose his grant funding--and that was the ''compromise'': Josh's first offer was for Sean to send the TIV home altogether.