The Buffalo office of the National Weather Service will be conducting SKYWARN spotter training seminars in Monroe and Orleans counties in May. Spring training focuses on severe thunderstorms, flash floods, tornadoes, severe weather safety, and how to report to the NWS.
SKYWARN™ is a national effort to save lives during severe weather emergencies with an expanding network of trained weather spotters. SKYWARN spotters support their local community and government by providing reports of severe weather directly to the National Weather Service in Buffalo by phone using the NWS spotter hotline, or by online reporting. The services performed by SKYWARN™ spotters have saved many lives.
The National Weather Service has a number of devices for detecting severe thunderstorms, including Doppler radar, satellite, and lightning detection networks. However, the most important tool for observing thunderstorms is the trained eye of the storm spotter. By providing observations, SKYWARN™ spotters assist NWS staff in their warning decisions and enable the NWS to fulfill its mission of protecting life and property. Storm spotters are an indispensable part of the severe local warning program.
The basic training session provides a brief overview of the National Weather Service organization and its responsibilities, severe weather safety, and basic severe weather meteorology including how thunderstorms, tornados, and flash floods form. Sessions last approximately two hours.
Anyone can become a severe weather spotter for the National Weather Service. SKYWARN training is free and open to the public.
The Orleans County training is being conducted in cooperation with Orleans County Emergency Management on Wednesday, May 3, at 7 p.m. at the Hoag Library, 134 South Main Street, Albion.
The Monroe County training is being conducted in cooperation with the Monroe County Office of Emergency Management on Thursday, May 4, at 7 p.m. at the Monroe County Emergency Operations Center, 1190 Scottsville Road, Suite 200, Rochester.
Online courses are also available and will be held April 20 at 7 p.m. and May 1 at 10 a.m.
Registration is required. The registration form link and more information about SKYWARN are available on the NWS Buffalo website at http://www.weather.gov/buf/Skywarn. For further information, call the NWS at 716-565-0204 ext. 223.
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