Upcoming Weather Spotters Classes In Colorado

[Mojaveflyer]

Upcoming weather spotter classes presented by National Weather Service this spring in northeast Colorado: SKYWARN Spotter Training Updates Whether or not you go out to spot this information is useful to know. These are virtual 'Zoom' classes and are free.

 

[hill]

Skywarn isn't really going out and spotting weather. More of helping the NWS know what is occurring on the ground, since their radars don't really get all the details. Plus reporting any damage from the weather or flooding. Also using ham radios to get reports to the local NWS Forecast Office.

Having been to a few different Skywarn classes like Basic and Flood I think part of the classes is staying out of harms way.

https://www.skywarn.org/

 

[Mojaveflyer]

Of course it's staying out of the way of weather while reporting to NWS. It is actually going out and spotting weather. You can't give reports to NWS sitting at home. Being safe is the bottom line. I ran many nets from NWS in Denver while they were down by Stapleton Airport and after they moved to Boulder. We had a mapbook handy to help spotters get away from storms if they became boxed in.

 

[hill]

Nobody in this region goes out and does any kind of weather spotting. All of our Skywarn reports are from people being home or maybe just out driving on the roads.

 

[aprswatcher]

Most of us in the Rocky Mountain states and Midwest, go out and spot for the NWS. Some areas of these states are sparsely populated and those that live in these areas do not call into the NWS with weather reports. We travel out to the areas and report what we see or report what has happened so that the NWS can issue warnings or alerts for those areas in the storms path.
Safety of the spotters is Number One priority! Most of us do not sit at home waiting for the storm to pass over then report what we had occur to the NWS. Very different than back in the Northeast.
73, Rex