When most people are scuttling for cover, Mr Cornelius and a friend or two head out to photograph these violent events.

Mr Cornelius has an advantage in predicting storms because he is a meteorologist with Weatherwatch, which is a commercial forecasting service.

“The best storms are really big events that strike in the middle of nowhere,” he said.

“They are beautiful but don’t do any damage. Wide open spaces are best.”

Fellow chaser Jodie Muston took her first picture of a thunderstorm when Brisbane’s most destructive tempest in more than two decades hit The Gap, in Brisbane’s west, in 2008.

“I come from Melbourne and I’d never seen anything like it,” she said.

“I’d just gotten a camera. I’d only had it two weeks.”

Ms Muston said her initial interest probably came from her rural upbringing, but now she and partner Cameron Hines chased storms together.

“Nothing beats going out there into a storm,” she said.

“It’s a living, breathing thing. You can feel the change in temperature and change in winds.

“I wish more people would go outside and look up. They are amazing things. Sure, they are dangerous but they also are beautiful.

“I’d rather be out watching them, than inside watching Facebook.”

Mr Cornelius said he had chased literally thousands of storms since starting in 1999.

Apart from being a hobby, he had a professional interest as he often used them as a way of testing his forecasting.

He also liked photography and seeing mother nature in all her glory.

Most storm chasers limit a day’s outing to a 400km to 500km drive, although longer efforts had ended up being about 1500km.

Mr Cornelius said storm chasing had become popular, especially since weather radar had become available on smartphones.

“That’s made it much easier,’’ he said.

“When I started it was all visual and you had to know how to read the sky.’’

Unsurprisingly the main danger in storm chasing is lightning, and he has suffered one close call when a traffic sign just near him was hit.

Another downside was hail damage. Mr Cornelius finds it hard to remember a car he has owned that has not sustained any.