Severe Weather Awareness Week: What you need to know about Skywarn spotter training
(CBS DETROIT) - The National Weather Service has many tools and information at its disposal to identify severe weather, but it often needs visual confirmation to connect what is happening in the atmosphere to what is happening on the ground. That's where weather spotters come in.
"The radar might tip us off that there could be a tornado ongoing, but in a lot of cases, we don't know that until someone gives us a call or sends us a report and lets us know there is a tornado on the ground. Having spotters out there kind of completes the picture for us," said Trent Frey, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Detroit.
Skywarn spotter training is a brief class that anyone can take to become a weather spotter for the National Weather Service or to know and understand severe weather better.
If you're not comfortable around the weather and you're a little scared of it, sometimes it can help to learn a little bit more about it and understand it," Frey said. "We also have plenty of people who come who have been to dozens of these talks. So, whether you're an experienced weather enthusiast or a kind of a newbie to it, everyone can benefit from weather safety awareness."
A couple of those newbies learned a thing or two at the class that CBS News Detroit meteorologist Karen Carter attended.
"For me, just how involved the community actually is. How people in their homes can make a difference to the forecasters who are sitting in an office trying to help people and know where things are going to get hit," said attendee Andy Wisniewski.
Several topics are discussed during spotter training, and there are updates to the class every two years so spotters can continuously come back for new or more information.
"We start off with some information about the weather service and who we are, what we do, and go into our warning decision process," Frey said. "When we are issuing severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings, we talk about how spotters fit into that framework and where they fill in the gaps for us. We talk about the science behind thunderstorms and how they form. What makes them severe? We cover severe weather safety. We'll cover all the scenarios on what might happen out there and how you can stay safe."
Skywarn spotter training classes are free and open to the public ages 13 and older. Classes are offered online and in person annually during the spring.