Storm-chasing Shropshire family has eyes on the skies

Chasing storms is more than just a hobby for the 37-year-old and her weather-mad clan – it's a way of life.

Mrs Royce-Williams and husband Paul Williams, who live off Ludlow Road, in The Down, near Bridgnorth, set up the Midlands Storm Chasers group 12 months ago to keep an even closer eye on any freak weather.

The family spend hours each day studying climate charts and driving around the region on the hunt for powerful thunder storms or, more rarely, a tornado.

Mrs Royce-Williams said: "When I was little I was always interested in the weather. My parents would never let me watch storms.

"They didn't want me standing too near the windows because they had metal frames and I guess they thought the house could get hit by lightning and I'd get hurt.

"I was never scared of the weather, though, it just fascinated me.

"I set up the Midland Storm Chasers as no-one in this area was really doing anything like this.

The group's Facebook page is regularly updated with weather forecasts and alerts posted about any bad weather heading this way. It currently has almost 3,000 followers.

Co-op assistant store manager Mr Williams, 35, said: "We've got to the point now where we can almost read the skies and know what the storms are going to do and which way they will go."

When they spot a storm coming, the couple, along with their children, twins Joseph and Oliver, 10, and daughter, Lucy, 14, hop in the family's silver Vauxhall – dubbed the battle wagon – and hit the road.

Severe storms usually travel up through the Bristol Channel and gain strength as they hit the Midlands.

Mrs Royce-Williams added: "The big storm we had last June was one of the worst I've ever seen.

"In a storm you usually get 400 lightning strikes.

"From this one we saw 64,000 strikes across the UK.

"There were flash floods around here. It was very dangerous. Last year we also saw a phone mast get hit by lightning in Burton and we were only about 200 yards away."

In 2012 the family visited Shell Island in north Wales and spotted a waterspout, a tornado that forms out at sea or above rivers.

Mrs Royce-Williams said: "We had been watching a storm for some time but we decided to leave after a while.

"Then suddenly I spotted a waterspout out at sea. It was about three miles out. It was great seeing it."

She added: "I think the UK will see more storms, and bigger ones at that because of climate change."

Mrs Royce-Williams is currently studying an MSc degree in meteorology with the Open University.