CANCELLED: Cook County Emergency Management brings Northland SkyWarn training to Grand Marais April 24
Feb 29, 2020 03:45PM ● By EditorThe two hour Skywarn training session conducted by members of the National Weather Service will begin on Friday, April 24 at 6pm at the Cook County Community Center. Sponsored by Cook County Emergency Management
The National Weather Service's SKYWARN® program provides FREE 2-hour training to volunteers in the community who help identify and report severe weather including large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes.
Since the program began in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN® spotters has helped the National Weather Service issue timely and accurate warnings to protect lives and property. There can be no finer reward than to know that their efforts have given communities the precious gift of time, the seconds and minutes which can help save lives.
Each Spring, National Weather Service offices across the country train volunteers within their area of responsibility. At the Duluth office, we are responsible for training across northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin. Our neighboring offices in Grand Forks, Minneapolis, La Crosse, Green Bay, and Marquette offer training for their service areas.
We encourage anyone with an interest in weather to attend a SKYWARN® class in your community to become an official and trained weather spotter. No registration is required, just show up. Anyone who spends time outdoors, whether working, camping, fishing, golfing, or hiking will also benefit from a SKYWARN® class. Public safety personnel are also encouraged to attend SKYWARN® training.
SKYWARN® training covers the following topics:
- The mission of the National Weather Service and how SKYWARN® spotters play an important role in the warning process.
- Thunderstorm formation and the types of thunderstorms. We'll study the meteorological dynamics involved in thunderstorm production and what it takes for a storm to produce damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes.
- Visual indicators spotters can look for to identify possible severe weather. This includes types of clouds associated with specific areas of a thunderstorm, how to identify rotation and discriminate between strong and weak rotation, and discriminating between tornadoes and look-a-likes.
Current SKYWARN® spotters are asked to attend training at least every 4 years in order to refresh their training.
In addition to the classroom-based SKYWARN® training sessions, online training is available through the COMET MetEd website (registration is required). The online training is a great supplement and annual refresher but is not intended to replace a classroom session.