Metro Skywarn training Twin Cities storm spotters to help National Weather Service
Severe weather season has arrived in Minnesota, and there's a chance for you to help the National Weather Service when the next round of storms rolls in.
Metro Skywarn is a network of trained storm spotters in the Twin Cities that are looking for more people to go through their weather crash course to help when severe storms strike.
"We are providing real-time information to the National Weather Service, to where they can get these warnings out quicker," said Jeffrey Schaefer-Kordiak, Metro Skywarn's vice chair. "We want to be able to provide this type of training to anybody and everybody, people that are weather enthusiasts, weather geeks like myself, or people that are firefighters that work within the public service."
It's a three-hour class with online and in-person options covering everything from storm structure, safe spotting, what to report and how. One critical way to report is through a ham radio.
"It is dependable, it's reliable, it's not going to fail," Schaefer-Kordiak said." And we then are able to then use our ham radio to speak directly to the National Weather Service, or the nets, if we do run into that situation where we no longer have cellphone service."
Having a ham radio isn't a necessity, but Theresa Caspers does have one in her car when she is on the road spotting. She's Metro Skywarn's lead trainer, overseeing the 700 to 800 people they train each year.
"We are really here for the safety of our communities, and that is something that can't be stressed enough," Caspers said. "When stuff happens, we're going to be out there."
Click here for more information on Metro Skywarn. For those living outside of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, you can find training opportunities through your local National Weather Service office.