There’s more than one reason some people chase deadly storms, and perhaps some of the reasons for it have yet to actually be reported on news outlets or discovered. For one thing, people that have taken up storm chasing as a profession aren’t likely to use it as a suicide method. If they do, it’s not commonly heard of, and the story of, e.g., Matt Hughes might have turned out a bit differently in the sense that if he entertained that very thought due to his personal problems, he was in the perfect position to challenge conventional ideas of what storm chasing is for and get the same publicity for it by virtue of his television stardom. However, recent reporting such as was done by CNN (see here and here) suggests that if not for thrills or tourism, it’s generally for the sake of scientific research to warn people in a locality whenever they’re in the path of a storm which may be destructive or threaten their lives. (Of course, this is based on an assumption, which news reporters must operate on, that no one who knows a powerful storm is coming will want to be in the line of fire.)
Indeed, doing scientific research on deadly storms makes the most sense if your intention is primarily to report the weather news, including with live coverage on the scene; and it helps a lot if you’re fascinated with weather science to begin with. Furthermore, getting a job as part of a weather reporting team is something that would be expected of you if you’re going to complete a higher education program with meteorology as your focus. The New York Federal Reserve Bank does say that a sizable percentage of college graduates end up working in a job that doesn’t match their degree major or even require a college degree at all. Thus, unless the field of meteorology is an exception to this rule, there’s not a lot to suggest that one’s education is a reason for storm chasing; but of course it doesn’t mean it can never happen or should be denied to people that know they like to do it and got an education accordingly.
Because it’s a life-threatening stunt, chasing deadly storms is something only some people are willing to do, and those that do it and enjoy it can probably cite a variety of reasons for it. But the true question seems to boil down to whether it’s more appropriate to focus on only certain reasons as being the most widely accepted: because it’s expected of someone to do it for collecting information such as proof that the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is responsible for generating catastrophes that include major hurricanes as per conspiracy theories; because it’s a paid profession ultimately done just to help pay bills (or get rich and retire comfortably) in exchange for putting one’s own life on the line; or because some people find that it just makes their lives more exciting and therefore have no qualms about treating it like an amusement park ride.
