During SKYWARN training, participants learn a little about meteorology and why the weather behaves the way it does.
Toledo, Ohio — Severe weather can happen at any time of the day, any day of the year, as evidenced by this The tornado that touched down in Putnam County Tuesday.
But real severe weather season is right around the corner, and the National Weather Service is offering free classes to help you prepare.
The NWS SKYWARN program teaches the difference between a normal thunderstorm and a severe thunderstorm, how to spot different types of clouds, how to report different hail sizes and how to tell the difference between a funnel cloud and a tornado.
NWS Cleveland is offering SKYWARN storm spotting training sessions across part of northwest and northeast Ohio through April.
SKYWARN spotter training is beneficial not only for people interested in becoming trained storm spotters but also learning about severe weather in general.
““One of the things I think most people are interested in is becoming observers.” Coordination of warnings has occurred, said Freddie Ziegler, a meteorologist with NWS Cleveland. “We kind of give them an idea of who we are. We give them our mission to protect lives and property with our watches and warnings. We tell them why we need a monitor and why it is important to have a monitor.”
During SKYWARN training, participants learn a little about meteorology and why the weather behaves the way it does. They learn the difference between watches and warnings and what the Storm Prediction Center does.
The National Weather Service said social media can actually help trained spotters keep people safe during severe weather. When people post information online about what they see, this information can then be collected and transmitted.
The NWS wants to make it clear: SKYWARN is not about teaching people how to chase storms, but rather about being safe storm watchers.
If you are interested, you can find more information about the program, how to register, and the full schedule on the National Weather Service website at this link. Classes are two hours long and rotate between districts each year.
