There was the initial process of forecasting where the best storms would be. There was the opportunity to learn why things didn't turn out as expected, or at the very least, the opportunity to take new roads and see new parts of the country. At the end of any stormy day, there is usually a beautiful sunset. I ask for very little when I chase, and consequently, I always seem to get a lot. But all chasers are different.
Tornado chasers are free to focus on the tornado.
However, I suggest that by taking this view, such chasers may ignore other aesthetic parts of a chase that occur far more regularly than a tornado. If the forecast, the landscape, the clouds, and the very storm that a chaser exhorts to produce a tornado are discounted as just means to an end, then the chase experience becomes as narrow and short-lived as the tornado itself. In closing Storm chasing means something different to every chaser. For me, it has become something more than just a pursuit of storms. I have written this essay, not to change anybody's views on chasing, but to try to understand my deep-seated emotions that come with this activity.