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October 22, 2008

Local organizations host SKYWARN course

Submitted by Whitfield County government



Whitfield County Emergency Services, with the Dalton Amateur Radio Club and the local chapter of Amateur Radio Emergency Services, joins the National Weather Service (NWS) in presenting the SKYWARN Training Course.

The class is free and will last about two hours. It will be presented on Monday, Nov. 17, at the Goodroe Auditorium in the Memorial Building at Dalton State College starting at 7 p.m. To sign up, call (706) 370-4911. The class is limited to 200.

To obtain critical weather information from a variety of locations, the NWS and partner groups set up SKYWARN, a volunteer program with more than 230,000 trained severe weather spotters. These volunteers help keep local communities safe by sending NWS timely and accurate reports of severe weather.

SKYWARN spotters provide essential information for all types of environmental hazards, but the main responsibility is to report severe local storms. In an average year, the U.S. is affected by 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes. Where appropriate, spotters are also trained on warning signs for earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, volcanic ashfall and coastal hazards such as tsunamis, water spouts and rip currents. Since the program started in the 1970s, SKYWARN information, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite data and other resources, has enabled NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods.

Anyone with access to a telephone or HAM radio can join the SKYWARN program. Spotters can also submit reports through the Internet on their local NWS Forecast Office Web site. Spotters include police and fire personnel, dispatchers, EMS workers, public utility workers and other citizens interested in weather. The NWS encourages staff at hospitals, schools, churches, nursing homes and other key locales to become spotters.

To get involved, contact the warning coordination meteorologist in your local NWS office. They conduct training and administer the SKYWARN program for a specific local area.

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