Storm Chasing With a Purpose

The Weather Service's Skywarn Program is Helping Improve Warnings

Oct 16, 2008

Nothing like the glamorized media portrayal of storm chasers, Skywarn spotters are average citizens trained to be the eyes and ears of the Weather Service in the USA.

Movies such as Twister and the media's coverage of those who make the trip out to "Tornado Alley" each spring to chase storms have somewhat skewed the public's perception of what storm watchers do. The reality is that most don't even leave their homes to perform their services.

A majority of these folks belong to a group called Skywarn, which is made up of thousands of individuals across the country who have been trained to report severe weather conditions to their own local National Weather Service (NWS) offices.

What is Skywarn?

The United States NWS first developed the program in the early 1970s as a way to provide the agency with needed "ground truth" for its warnings. Simply put, forecasters contact spotters in a specific location through the network to confirm what they are seeing and to improve its advisories and make them more accurate.

While storm chasing is a part of Skywarn, it is by no means its focus. Most spotters do not operate on their own, and are instead working in conjunction with a emergency management agency or the weather service office. In fact, some Skywarn groups actually discourage storm chasing.

Spotters are trained to report various aspects of severe weather, including wind, hail, rainfall, and conditions that may signal a tornado is forming, or actual tornadoes on the ground. During the winter in snowy areas, these spotters may also provide snowfall data.

The NWS says that approximately 280,000 spotters are currently registered across the United States.

How to Join Skywarn

Joining Skywarn differs from region to region. The easiest way is to consult with one's local National Weather Service office in order to find out when local training classes will be held: Local emergency management agencies may also have this information. Classes are held year round.

Once in Skywarn, its likely that the local weather service office will give the spotter some type of contact information, either to the office directly, or to a local coordinator which compiles the reports and then forwards them on.

In some areas, amateur radio operators take much of this responsibility, and there may be nets where those with a license can check in and report conditions during times of severe weather.

What to Report

Although criteria can vary from region to region, generally the NWS asks its spotters to report the following:

Those interested in spotting would probably be best served by purchasing some type of weather station to help make their reports more accurate and useful to forecasters.

Either way, whether the storm chaser is in the car or at his or her home, the "hobby" does have some type of real world value in helping the weather service issue better warnings, which in turn makes everyone more safe.

The copyright of the article Storm Chasing With a Purpose in Meteorology & Climatology is owned by Ed Oswald. Permission to republish Storm Chasing With a Purpose in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.