I feel for the guys that lost their lives chasing the storms but do you think these people are doing good for awareness and research or are they more of a TMZ of natural disasters ?
These guys are scientists working on grants from the National Geographic Society. I'm not sure why people think they're frat boys looking for a thrill.
Why is this an "or". Why can't scientists be in it it for the thrill/publicity? Not all scientists are "book" guys. When I think of scientists that don't fit the classic mold, I remember this off topic quote from the Simpsons: Marge: Homer, there's a man here who thinks he can help you. Homer: Batman? Marge: No, he's a scientist. Homer: Batman's a scientist. Marge: It's NOT Batman.
A TMZ of natural disasters probably wouldn't care about hooking up thousands of dollars worth of scientific equipment to their vehicles. There are some thrill seekers (like those "tornado tours") that do nothing but take tourist money to take them on a "guided" tour of a tornado chase. And then there are quite a few that do it purely for the thrill. Those are the nuts.
I mean if they had better funding they wouldn't be risking their lives but since they have to risk their lives to place the tornado tracking monitors in the path to get proper reading. But if I was a tornado chaser I would do it for the same reason. The thrill and for the science. I love watching thunder storms but hope no one gets hurt. I would rather do this than going into space if you want to rank the danger and thrill of a jobs.
Sounds like you have never watched stormchasers. The guys genuinely care about the science. Of course, they also think tornados are cool, but it's not like they have the option of making them go away forever. They enjoy them when they can, but their priority is science. I heard about the group that died. It was suprising because on the show they were probably the most careful of the three groups, but they were also the only one without an armored vehicle.
Some are doing it for science others run tourist companies and some just follow the chasers around with cameras.
