How much are we learning from amateur "storm chasers"?

[ThoughtCriminal]

Is it just a thrill for some awesome video or is it helping advance the science of storm prediction? Are ground level videos and measurements finding anything new?

Certainly it is useful to have trained spotters pinpointing the location of tornadoes on the ground. That can save lives, but is this useful science?

[Vanje]

1. They're giving us some great video.

As a sport, I'll bet Storm-chasing is safer than riding horses.

[Sonoman]

2. It's safer than getting behind the wheel of your car.

I heard the stats on some program about storm-chasers.

Sonoman

[ixion]

3. They provide valuable meteorological data

so, yeah, we are.

[BadgerKid]

4. Yes...all of those!

It's AFAICT, being a weather enthusiast myself. On bad weather days, especially yesterday, some of us go online to gather and then to help disseminate potentially life-threatening info to anyone reading.

Researchers, as I understand it, would ideally like to know conditions at every square kilometer of land and input that into their computer models for making really good predictions further out into the future.

[Rincewind]

5. I learned something

very important from storm chasers. Not to chase after storms.