WILMINGTON — The US National Weather Service (NWS) in Wilmington, Ohio, is hosting three virtual weather spotter classes in the next few months.
Weather spotters are an important part of the NWS, providing visual field reports that radar doesn’t always pick up. Spotters go out before or during a storm and provide important information about damaging winds and hail size, as well as snowfall and rain totals.
Kristy Fryman, director at Shelby County Emergency Management Agency, said, “Although radar is a valuable tool, it doesn’t always see what is on the ground. A trained spotter can provide life-saving information, especially for people in a storm’s path.”
In the spring, Shelby County residents need to be aware of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Spotters add in real-time reports, making the NWS weather warnings more accurate, credible and timely.
The two-hour training classes will teach basic thunderstorm development, how to identify certain clouds, how radar works, as well as what information to report, including size of hail, rain amounts, and cloud structure. The class will also teach how to report that information to the NWS either online or by phone.
Potential spotters are asked to take one two-hour class and then to stay up-to-date by taking the class annually.
Spotter training will be offered virtually on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 7 at 7 p.m., and Tuesday, May 2, at 6 p.m. Classes last two hours, and are free and open to the public. In-person training classes will be offered at a later time. More information can be found at www.weather.gov/iln/spottertrainingschedule. Registration is required for online classes.
