SKYWARN Weather Spotter Training

May 4, 2023 from 6pm to 8pm at the Town of German Flatts Town Hall in Mohawk.

This training session is open to anyone wanting to become a Volunteer Skywarn Spotter. No prior experience needed and the training is free. SKYWARN™ is a volunteer program with trained weather spotters nationwide. These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of significant and impactful weather to the National Weather Service (NWS).

Learn about:

Hazardous spring and summer weather events and climatology

Weather spotting criteria

How to report information to the National Weather Service, and more!

What is SKYWARN™?

The effects of hazardous weather are felt every year by many Americans. To obtain critical weather information, NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), established SKYWARN^™ with partner organizations. SKYWARN™ is a volunteer program with nearly 290,000 trained severe weather spotters. These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the NWS.

In the average year, 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes occur across the United States. Eastern New York and western New England are no exception with major weather events such as Tropical Storm Irene, the Mechanicville Tornado of 1998, the February 2019 high wind event, and numerous blizzards including the latest of March 2017. These events threatened lives and property and because of this we rely heavily on our SKYWARN™ volunteers who call the NWS in Albany, NY to report certain weather conditions. Since the program started in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN™ spotters, coupled with Doppler-radar technology, improved satellite and other data, has enabled NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods. (NYS Albany, NY SKYWARN™ Program)

Sign up ahead of time is appreciated.