Weather Service Looking to Train Weather Spotters

(KNSI) – Help keep your community safe from dangerous weather by becoming a trained weather spotter.

The National Weather Service is holding six virtual Skywarn Spotter classes starting April 7th.

Meteorologist Tyler Hasenstein says spotters have an essential role in helping track severe weather.

“They’re incredibly useful. We oftentimes don’t have all of the information that we want and they help to kind of bridge some of the gaps in our knowledge that we need to issue the best warnings possible.”

Skywarn Spotters help with everything from severe thunderstorms, to tornadoes, to blizzards.

Spotters are important to verify if what meteorologists see on radar is really happening on the ground.

Hasenstein said the more people they have watching the sky, the better.

“More is always better. We do have a pretty wide coverage area and we don’t have people in every single location. Even just adding one spot or in a place where we might not have had one in the past can help us to diagnose and deal with weather situations that happen over that area a little bit better.”

There are no qualifications to become a weather spotter other than taking the training class. The class is free.

People are asked to take the class every couple of years to stay fresh on being a weather spotter.

To sign up for one of the courses offered, click here.

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