HAMPTON ROADS — Thanks to a partnership between the National Weather Service and the Wakefield Field Office, locals can become certified SKYWARN observers to help create more accurate severe weather forecasts for the region.
SKYWARN, established in the 1970s by the National Weather Service, was created in response to a growing need for real-time, ground-level severe weather observations. The name was coined to reflect its mission of citizens watching the sky and reporting hazardous weather.
Charlie Woodrum, National Skywarn Program Manager, values the input that spotters provide.
“There are limitations as to what we can do and we can’t see everything, so our SKYWARN spotters are our ears and eyes on the ground,” Woodrum said.
The program aims to recruit trained volunteers who provide timely reports of severe weather such as tornadoes, damaging winds, large hail and flooding. Those reports are then phoned in to a National Weather Service Field Office, where forecasters can issue warnings and watches for severe weather.
During a two-hour free training class, volunteer spotters are taught various cues that severe weather may be on its way. The National Weather Service offers a basic certification and an advanced certification.
During the basic certification course, the main focus is on thunderstorms, how they form, and the severe weather events that are most often associated with thunderstorms. In the advanced certification class, spotters are trained on how the National Weather Service creates its forecasts and what needs to happen in the atmosphere for certain weather events to come to fruition.
The Wakefield Field Office, which provides weather forecasts for the Hampton Roads area, relies on SKYWARN spotter reports.
“Those reports that come in can save lives. Every event that we get reports, it makes a difference because it’s not only the real-time updates that could save lives, but it’s also verifying the warnings we’ve already issued,” Woodrum said.
Woodrum hopes to see the program continue to grow in the future.
“We can always be increasing our network of SKYWARN spotters, especially in our more rural locations. If there is no one out there to report it, we really won’t have any way of knowing if there was a tornado unless there is damage. If you live in a rural area, I would definitely encourage you to become a spotter because you might be the only spotter for miles to help relay information to us,” Woodrum said.
The Wakefield office will begin offering certification classes again in the coming weeks. Interested residents can find out more by visiting weather.gov/akq/SKYWARN.