Log In


Reset Password
News Education Local News Nation & World New Mexico

Volunteer weather observers get due recognition

Johnny Shepherd talks on his Ham radio while using his computer to keep in constant contact with his radio friends in this file photo.

The National Weather Service and the Amateur Radio Relay League are sponsoring a 24-hour SKYWARN Day observation on Friday to call attention to the contributions of volunteer severe-weather spotters to public safety.

SKYWARN, with about 290,000 trained severe-weather spotters across the country, keeps local communities safe by gathering weather data for National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters.

The NWS uses the information to warn the public of hazardous weather. In the average year, there are 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5.000 floods and 1,000 tornadoes that threaten life and property across the U.S.

The NWS started the SKYWARN program in the 1970s. The program is open to anyone interested in public service and who has access to communication such as HAM radio.

The SKYWARN Day observation urges amateur stations and NWS offices to contact each other as widely as possible from 5 p.m. Friday to 5 p.m. Saturday to exchange call sign, signal report and a one- or two-word description of weather at its site.

Jim Pringle, a warning coordination meteorologist at the NWS in Grand Junction, said SKYWARN volunteers working out of his office last year made 284 contacts. Their contacts covered 48 states, good for first place, he said.

The NWS office in Grand Junction exchanged information with counterparts at 52 of the 122 NWS offices in the country, Pringle said.

daler@durangoherald.com



Reader Comments