Have an interest in the weather and want to help your community at the same time? The Skywarn Storm Spotter Talk may be the perfect course for you. Here’s what you need to know about becoming a Storm Spotter.
Put on by the local National Weather Service (NWS) office, the two-hour class serves to be interesting and informative, proving just how valuable members of the community are for severe weather.
The program began in the 1970s and enlists and educates volunteers of the public to help provide timely reports of severe weather. Boasting several hundred thousand trained spotters across the country in the five decades since its inception, the partnership between the public and NWS has helped provide vital information to keep people safe.
Marshall Pfahler, a meteorologist with NWS in St. Louis, recently led a class, attended by 25 people, in St. Charles County. He went over several concepts, including how to measure snow correctly, identifying the difference between a funnel cloud, scud cloud and tornado, estimating wind speeds, and even the sizes of hail.
He says storm spotters are vital in providing the “ground truth” to what NWS sees on the radar.
“One of the limitations of the weather service is that it’s impossible to know everything that is going on down at the ground.” Storm spotters proved valuable during Thursday’s severe weather across the St. Louis area.
From hail size reports to downed trees to videos of rotating wall clouds, all this information was vital to NWS.
“From the limitations of our radar to locations that we have observations from, their reports are a lot of the times used for tornado warning or severe thunderstorm warning decisions.”
Emphasizing, “People tend to act more quickly and more urgently if they know for sure a tornado is on the ground or that something is actually occurring versus if it’s radar indicated.”
"It’s a training for people, anyone, no matter the age, members of the public to become certified weather spotters to report for us.” I heeded his advice and brought my ten-year-old to the class.
Reluctant to come to an informant talk in the evening, my fifth grader left the class with a new appreciation for meteorology and even said that he had fun, despite no snacks being served.
Erika Brown is a weather enthusiast who attended the class. She recently moved to the St. Louis area from Oregon and was a trained weather spotter there and wanted to become one here.
“The weather is so much more interesting out here,” she said. A self-described weather nerd, her fascination with the elements began as a child watching the weather and weather maps.
When asked what her favorite weather was, she answered, “I like watching the snow. I don’t necessarily like being stuck in the snow and cold.”
Adding, “Also severe storms because it’s interesting to watch how they develop.”
Scott Thorpe, a retired science teacher who taught meteorology for several years, comes to the storm spotter class annually. He now works security at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre and is more attuned to the weather at the outdoor venue.
“The weather there is a big deal when you get 20,000 people in, so I’m always watching the weather there, and the more I know, the better off I am.”
As for his favorite type of weather, “Besides 70 and sunny,” he laughs, “I’m originally from Buffalo, New York, and prefer the snow. It’s better for sleeping.”
The National Weather Service has several more classes to attend. For the complete list of dates, click here.
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