National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

Skywarn™ (formed in the early 1970s) is the National Weather Service (NWS) program of trained volunteer severe weather spotters. Skywarn™ 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 approaching severe weather. The focus of Skywarn™ (and of the NWS) is simple...to save lives and property.

For a long time, the NWS has relied on radar data when issuing warnings.

Since the early 1990s, the WSR-88D (Doppler Weather Radar) has provided valuable information to forecasters...with better detection of severe storm phenomena and more accurate and timely warnings.

However, even with the advance in technology..."ground truth" is still a very important part of the warning process.   "Ground truth" answers what exactly is going on.  Is the storm tornadic?  Is it producing large hail?  How about damaging winds?  Most of the "ground truth" is provided by trained storm spotters (through Skywarn™)...or the "eyes of the NWS."

The NWS believes so much in storm spotters (and Skywarn™) that it provides continuous training.  The students are members of law enforcement, emergency management, HAM radio clubs, and are also ordinary citizens who just want to help.  All that is necessary is to spend a few hours learning about severe weather...what a severe storm is, the structure of a severe storm, how it develops, and how to inform the NWS of severe weather.

Many visuals and animations are provided to make the material easier to understand.  There is a little paperwork and a few videos as well.

Students are provided with a card (to left) that contains spotter tips and how to contact the NWS.

At the completion of the course, students are given certificates which make them official NWS storm spotters for five years.

The course is normally taught by the Warning Coordination Meteorologist (WCM) from a local NWS office.  The WCM helps develop the coursework and is the liason between storm spotters and the NWS. 

For Skywarn™ to work, it is crucial for reports to make it from storm spotters to the NWS.  The easiest way to make contact is by phone through a special 800 number. 

The Arkansas Weather Net, Inc. often provides its services at the NWS...with reports immediately relayed from HAM operators to radar operators. 

Reports can also be filed at this web site through a special "Weather Reporting Form."  To see this form, click here.

Obviously, the reports go to the NWS.  They are used both during and after severe weather events.  During the events, the reports help radar operators determine what a storm is producing so they can warn counties farther downstream.   After the events, the reports are used for studies.  Quite often, reports are correlated with radar data to help measure the performance of the radar and to help forecasters interpret the data.  In the end, forecasters end up becoming better radar operators.

Reports are also compiled in a monthly publication called "Storm Data."