Skywarn spotters and cooperative observers enjoy appreciation day at the NWS Midland/Odessa forecast office (Photo: WFO Midland/Odessa)
(Aug. 23, 2008) - Staffers at the NOAA National Weather Service Midland/Odessa forecast office honored their Skywarn spotters and cooperative observers with an appreciation day and open house.
Community businesses from the Permian Basin provided food and music for the event, which was highlighted with a special awards ceremony. The forecast office recognized several key contributors to both the Skywarn and Cooperative Observer Programs.
In the spirit of the Olympics, the staff introduced a new award that will likely become an annual tradition at Midland - the Gold Medal Performance Award. The award was presented to those volunteers who have demonstrated extraordinary dedication and sacrifice in assisting the office. The strong turnout is a testimony to the office staff's effectiveness in developing partnerships with people in their communities across West Texas and southeast New Mexico.
Although Skywarn spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, their main responsibility is to identify and describe severe local storms. In an average year, 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes occur across the United States.
Since the program started in the 1970s, the information provided by the spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite and other data, enables the National Weather Service to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods.
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service Cooperative Weather Observer Program has given scientists and researchers continuous observational data since the program's inception more than a century ago. Today, nearly 12,000 volunteer observers participate in the nationwide program to provide daily reports on temperature, precipitation and other weather factors such as snow depth, river levels and soil temperature.