ASHWAUBENON, WI (WTAQ) – Today is the start of Wisconsin’s Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week, which has the National Weather Service looking to train as many people as possible to become a storm spotter.
To do this, they’re hosting 90-minute presentations open to the public throughout the state in April and May.
The timing of these presentations are meant to coincide with a typically tumultuous period of weather in both the state and region.
“We time our training so people are aware of the threats upcoming and are ready to report severe weather if it were to happen in their local area,” explains Jeff Last, with the National Weather Service of Green Bay.
And the threats are numerous in springtime as a number of severe weather threats can quickly pop-up.
According to Last, strong winds accompanied by thunderstorms are the most common, but hail also can be a concern, along with more dangerous possibilities.
“We do get tornadoes here in Northeastern Wisconsin, we average about six to eight every year and about twenty-two across the state,” he explains. “They don’t happen that frequently, but when they do they can be very destructive.”
The goal is to give those in attendance the knowledge to spot a storm before it fully forms and be able to effectively pass along that information.
“How to identify features, which may be precursors to severe weather,” says Last. “And finally, how to contact the National Weather Service with a report of severe weather.”
He says the former is especially important.
All the monitors and radar detectors in the world pale in comparison to someone calling in and describing conditions right where they stand.
“Our spotters are the ground crew,” he explains. “They tell us exactly what’s happening as it moves through the area, so we rely on our storm spotters to help us fine tune our forecasts.”
According to Last, just as much as everyone relies on them for up-to-date information during a storm, they rely on storm spotters to keep that information accurate.
“They act as our eyes and ears, these volunteers who watch the weather in their local communities,” he says.
A training class is being held today, which is open to the public, at the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh starting at 6 p.m.
A full list of scheduled training events can be found on the National Weather Service website.
