The SKYWARN Program Across Middle Tennessee

First and foremost, attend a SKYWARN Spotter Class.

A vital part of operations during severe weather is contact with weather spotters in the field. The National Weather Service office in Nashville uses amateur radio as one method of communicating with spotter and emergency management organizations, and utilize the station callsign K4OHX.

The National Weather Service, in cooperation with local and state emergency management and amateur radio groups across Middle Tennessee, have developed a network of repeaters to pass warning and radar information to the spotter groups, and to receive real-time reports of severe weather from the spotters. The system is called the MTEARS Repeater Link System.

These repeaters serve as a "liaison net" during severe weather. That is that the individual storm spotters continue to use their local frequencies and report weather conditions to their local organization. When an organization receives a report of a tornado, funnel cloud or other severe weather criteria (hail that is 0.75 inches in diameter or larger, or winds greater than 57 mph), a liaison from the local spotter organization relays the report to the National Weather Service. Amateur radio operators at the National Weather Service Office will also give warning, weather summaries, and radar information to the liaisons, who in turn pass the information on to their local spotter network.

Spotters and citizens are encouraged to monitor these frequencies, but to limit the traffic on this network, please report severe weather to your local spotter groups instead of on these frequencies.

A number of meteorologists at the National Weather Service Nashville office are amateur radio operators and communicate with the spotters on the MTEARS Repeater Link System.

Are you interested in becoming a weather spotter? Here is some information about how to get started in tornado and thunderstorm spotting.