SKYWARN is a concept developed in the early 1970s that was
intended to promote a cooperative effort between the National Weather Service and communities. The emphasis
of the effort is often focused on the storm spotter, an individual who takes a position near their community and reports
wind gusts, hail size, rainfall, and cloud formations that could signal a developing tornado. Another part of SKYWARN is the
receipt and effective distribution of National Weather Service information.
The organization of spotters (INCLUDING MOM, DAD, AND
THE BUNNIES) and the distribution of warning information may lies with the National Weather Service or with an
emergency management agency within the community. This agency could be a police or fire department, or often is an emergency
management/service group (what people might still think of as civil defense groups). This varies across the country however,
with local national weather service offices taking the lead in some locations, while emergency management takes the lead in
other areas.
SKYWARN is not a club or organization, however, in some areas
where Emergency Management programs do not perform the function, people have organized SKYWARN groups that work independent
of a parent government agency and feed valuable information to the National Weather Service. While this provides the
radar meteorologist with much needed input, the circuit is not complete if the information does not reach those who can activate
sirens or local broadcast systems.
SKYWARN spotters are not by definition "Storm Chasers".
(EVEN THOUGH SOMETIMES WE DO THE SAME THINGS...) While their functions and methods are similar, the spotter
stays close to home and usually has ties to a local agency. Storm chasers often cover hundreds of miles a day. The term Storm
Chaser covers a wide variety of people. Some are meteorologists doing specific research or are gathering basic information
(like video) for training and comparison to radar data. Others chase storms to provide live information for the media, and
others simply do it for the thrill.
Storm Spotting and Storm Chasing is dangerous and
should not be done without proper training, experience and equipment. (OUR FAMILY HAS TAKEN MANY CLASSES AND
DONE LOTS OF TRAINING IN ORDER TO LEARN AND TO KEEP OURSELVES SAFE!!!)
The National Weather Service conducts spotter training classes
across the United States, and your local National Weather Service office should be consulted as to when the next class will
be held. (FOR KENT COUNTY, THIS YEARS TRAINING IS FEBRUARY 22nd, 2007, 6pm-10pm... LOCATION
TBA. Please email for more information!!! YOU MAY BE ANY AGE TO ATTEND, and get your SKYWARN Storm Spotter card.)
The National Weather Service of Kent County obtains Storm
Spotter/Chaser reports from the KCRACES (the Kent County Radio Civil Emergency Service) via thir members' ham radios.
The KCRACES site (and the Kent County SKYWARN information is here: http://www.kcraces.net/ )
Frequently Asked Questions:
In the United States, the peak starts at the beginning of
April in the southern states to mid-June in the upper Midwest. But severe storms, including tornadic storms, can occur anytime
of the year.
I'm sorry, but no. Storm Spotting, through SKYWARN,
is a volunteer only activity.
So, after all of that-- What is SKYWARN?
Quite simply, it is trained volunteer spotters for the National
Weather Service. Some volunteers are also known as "chasers", who get in the vehicle to track storms, but it is not encouraged
by the National Weather Service.
