SKYWARNTM Spotter
Program
What is SkywarnTM?
SkywarnTM
is a National Weather Service (NWS) program of trained volunteer severe
weather spotters. SkywarnTM volunteers
support their local community and government by providing the NWS with
timely and accurate severe weather reports. These reports, when
integrated with modern NWS technology, are used to inform communities
of the proper actions to take as severe weather threatens. The key
focus of the SkywarnTM program is to save lives and
property through the use of the observations and reports of trained
volunteers.
What does a
SkywarnTM Spotter report?
Although all reports are welcome,
the National Weather Service in Boise is particularly interested
in the weather elements described below.
Weather Phenomena |
Call The NWS if... |
Wind |
50 mph or stronger |
Hail |
3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter |
Tornado |
Any tornado or rotating cloud |
Flooding |
Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas |
River Flooding |
Any river rising above their normal bank level |
Heavy Rain |
Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater And - Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours |
Heavy Snow |
Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater And - Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends |
Low Visibilities |
Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow |
Freezing Rain |
Any freezing rain |
How Do I Become a
SkywarnTM Weather Spotter?
The National Weather Service welcomes
volunteers with an interest in severe weather spotting. Since the NWS
instituted the SkywarnTM Program, there has been a
significant decrease in the death rate due to tornadoes and other
severe weather. The SkywarnTM program is completely
voluntary. You may have the opportunity to call our office several
times a season depending on the weather pattern in your neck-of-the-woods.
If you agree, we may occasionally call you for a "ground truth" as to what
is actually happening near your house. Most likely our phone call will be
to confirm an element of potentially severe thunderstorms, like large hail,
or damaging wind. Other calls may be to verify heavy snowfall
or peak wind speed associated with large winter storms.
If interested please email boi.spotter@noaa.gov
Spotter Newsletters (These files are in Adobe
Acrobat® format. The free reader/printer for these files is available from
http://www.adobe.com.)
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US Dept of Commerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Weather Service
Boise Weather Forecast Office
NIFC Building 3807
Boise, ID 83705-5354
Tel: (208) 334-9860
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