I had the opportunity, this week, to attend the National Weather Service (NWS) SKYWARN Spotter training at the NWS office in Wakefield, VA.
SKYWARN volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service.
During this class, the meteorologists gave two in-depth presentations of the National Weather Service and spotting severe weather. While the meteorologists could have gotten much more technical in their discussion, they took the time to break down the concepts for the novice like myself to understand.
The NWS gives these classes frequently through coordination with area representatives in the Amateur Radio and Public Safety community, but this class was held at the NWS office adding another layer of interest for me.
The staff gave us a quick tour of the facilities that was very interesting. I could not help but relate their operational environment to the Tactical Operations Centers in Iraq. I was especially excited to see how the flow of information occurred within the big office.
During the class, it was nice to see a couple of young boys at the class. I hadn’t considered this as an option, but what a great environment to encourage the future generation of forecasters! I think this is something that I want to do when my kids get older.
The meat of the class was, of course, on the development, forecasting , and spotting of severe weather. The staff explained many of the different aspects of forecasting and storm development.
The biggest lessons learned were:
1. The difference between composite and base reflexivity in radars.
Base Reflectivity is taken from the lowest (elevation) slice, it is the primary image used to "see what’s out there".
Composite Reflectivity images utilize all elevation scans during each volume scan to create the image.
2.Description of Velocity Images on the radar page.
Base Velocity images provides a picture of the basic wind field from the ½° elevation scan. It is useful for determining areas of strong wind from downbursts or detecting the speed of cold fronts.
While much of this information can be found a the NWS Radar education page, having someone explain it to you is a great help.
3. The difference between shelf cloud and wall cloud.
Shelf clouds are a low-hanging, horizontal cloud feature attached to the front side of lines of storms or even a single storm.
A Wall Cloud is a localized, persistent, often abrupt lowering from a rain-free base.
These lessons learned are simply a small representation of the over all understanding I received from attending this class.
I am looking forward to attending the advanced level spotter training in a couple of weeks to learn even more about the weather and the storms it may produce.
If you are interested in the SKYWARN program or attending a similar class in your area contact your local National Weather Service Office.