To be brutally honest I’m a bit dubious that chasers have had very much at all to do with any real advances in tornado forecast ability or science.
It’s overwhelmingly been the fixed WSR-88D Doppler radars of the National Weather Service, the mobile “Doppler on Wheels,” advances in satellite meteorology, and the brute force of supercomputer modeling. None of the above are as sexy as storm chasers though, and honestly I think there’s been a bit of defensive overhype of the science they are contributing by chasers who are mostly doing it for the excitement.
No, I think you are wrong there.
The boots on the ground are the guys that collaborate the doppler info.
Some come has to verify the technology.
Risky bushiness, but God Bless Them, they have saved thousands.
Chasers have advanced understanding of tornadoes.
At the very least, they have proven what is 'a bad thing to do(tm)'.
Some of those chasers have PhDs.
That doesn't preclude them from being crazy as a s--thouse rat, but they do contribute information that can't be gained in any other way.
/johnny