Storm spotter classes open

Weather and emergency officials say they need eyes and ears as much as they need high-tech equipment when dark clouds crowd the horizon.

Storm spotter classes are part of emergency services training in many Tennessee and Georgia counties because workers are out in the elements when a crisis strikes, said Tony Finnell, director of the Emergency Operations Center in Meigs County, Tenn.

“It lets our first responders have a little insight on weather fronts and what’s good, bad and ugly about them,” Mr. Finnell said.

Meigs officials underwent National Weather Service training Jan. 24.

“What we want to try to do is link these community information bites to the National Weather Service in Morristown (Tenn.),” Mr. Finnell said. “They can put it on the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Weather Alert system for the rest of the public.”

The information flows two ways, officials say.

National Weather Service officials often rely on local watchers to verify conditions they can see on radar, said David Ashburn, emergency services director in Walker County, Ga.

“No matter how wonderful you think all the gimmicks of the radar and everything else is, there’s nothing like living color in front of you,” Mr. Ashburn said.

He said storm spotters in many counties form networks of emergency workers, ham radio operators and local residents who report what they see.

Howard Waldron, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Morristown, said his office needs all the help it can get.

“The radar is a great tool, but it will not tell us exactly what is happening on the ground,” said Mr. Waldron, who taught the Meigs class last month.

“You really have to have a set of eyes and ears on the ground to give you this information,” he said. “That’s what the storm spotters are all about.”

The region’s most recent major storm struck Nov. 14 in Kimball, Tenn., injuring nine people.

Marion County Emergency Management Agency Director Steve Lamb said the recent twister might boost attendance at the storm spotter class set for Feb. 21.

Marion County organized its storm spotters 12 years ago, Mr. Lamb said.

“We run what’s known as a spotter’s network on the local amateur radio frequencies during storms so the spotters in our county can feed reports” to a central collection point, Mr. Lamb said.

“In the springtime, we ... deploy spotters in key locations around the county during daylight hours to give us a set of eyes,” he said. Storm spotting at night is much tougher, he said.

Mr. Lamb said Marion, like many counties, participates in the SKYWARN network that links local watchers and the weather service, according to www.etskywarn.net.

People don’t have to take a class to be able to help, but training makes their information more useful, said Barry Gooden, warning coordination meteorologist for the NWS office in Peachtree City, Ga.

“That way we know we’re all talking the same language when we’re reporting something,” Mr. Gooden said. “Hopefully, that won’t be the end of their educational process. Just because you’ve had one of these classes doesn’t make you an expert.”

Storm spotter training isn’t the norm in Catoosa County, Ga., but Emergency Management Agency director Steve Quinn said he wants to add it to the regimen and hopes local officials can attend a class later this year.

Kristi Graham said she recently became a Meigs County and Decatur volunteer firefighter and enrolled in January’s class as part of her emergency services training.

Mrs. Graham said she was truly interested in learning about weather.

“I learned quite a bit,” she said. “I learned how tornados are formed and the different cloud types. It was very interesting.”

“Like the other night, we had those bad storms,” she said.

She knew through her training that “we weren’t going to have tornadoes in those storms,” she said.

She said the training gives her a greater sense of security during stormy weather whether she’s at home or heading for an emergency call.