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spotter training

Free SKYWARN spotter training offered by National Weather Service in Batavia March 30

By Billie Owens

Press release:

The Buffalo office of the National Weather Service will be conducting a SKYWARN spotter training seminar in Batavia, at the Genesee County Fire Training Center, 7690 State Street Road, at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 30.

The training session will last about two hours and there is no cost for the training.

SKYWARN is a national effort to save lives during severe weather emergencies with an expanding network of trained volunteer weather spotters.

SKYWARN spotters support their local community and government by providing reports of severe weather directly to the National Weather Service in Buffalo by phone using the NWS spotter hotline, by email, or social media. The services performed by SKYWARN spotters have saved many lives.

The National Weather Service has an array of modern technology for detecting severe thunderstorms. Included in these are Doppler radar, satellite, and lightning detection networks. However, the most important tool for observing thunderstorms is the trained eye of the storm spotter.

By providing observations, SKYWARN spotters assist National Weather Service staff in their warning decisions and enable the National Weather Service to fulfill its mission of protecting life and property. Storm spotters are, and always will be, an indispensable part of the severe local storm warning program.

The basic training session provides a brief overview of the National Weather Service organization and our responsibilities, severe weather safety, and basic severe weather meteorology including how thunderstorms, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes develop.

Anyone can become a severe weather spotter for the National Weather Service. SKYWARN training is free and open to the public. The training is being sponsored by the Genesee County Office of Emergency Management.

For further information, you can call the National Weather Service at (716) 565-0204, ext. 223.

More information about SKYWARN is available on the NWS Buffalo website at http://www.weather.gov/buf/Skywarn

Register online, call or email the Genesee County Fire Training Center:

  • Jeanette.diehl@co.genesee.ny.us
  • 585-344-0078

National Weather Service on the Web:

  • NOAA:   http://www.noaa.gov
  • NOAA’s National Weather Service:   http://www.weather.gov
  • NOAA’s National Weather Service in Buffalo:   http://www.weather.gov/buf

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