Do you know how to accurately track severe weather? That's what local residents learned Wednesday night at the UNOH event center.
The National Weather Service held its regional 2017 SKYWARN Storm Spotter workshop. Held once a year in the spring, this training is designed for interested members of the general public, as well as public safety professionals and amateur radio operators. Through the workshop, attendees learn how to stay safe in severe weather, what to report, how to report it, how to determine exactly what it is they're reporting, and how to get their information quickly to the weather service. Officials explained how they use your spotter information to keep our area safe.
"We use it to make warning decisions, if there's sever weather we will use that information to issue a warning, to have people take cover. If we do get a report, we can get that information in the warning. Social scientists tell us when we put their report in our warning, people tend to take it a lot more seriously because they know it's actually happening," said Amos Dodson, NWS Meteorologist.
There are about 3 thousand storm spotters in our NWS-designated area. Participants receive a certificate online after completing a survey at home later.
