Storm Spotter Privacy Act

NOAA Privacy Act Statement

Authority:  The collection of this information is authorized under 5 U.S.C. § 301, Departmental regulations, which authorizes the operations of an executive agency, including the creation, custodianship, maintenance, and distribution of records.

Purpose: NOAA collects this information for the purpose of 1) obtaining an agreement with a cooperative observer, storm warning displayman, flood warning distributor. etc., 2) with a company or organization to provide observations to be taken by its personnel at one or more locations, 3) agreement to any material change in terms of agreement with cooperative personnel already rendering service to the Weather Service, such as adding river observations at a climatological station, etc., and/or agreement for installation of instrumental equipment when the property upon which it is proposed to install instrumental equipment is controlled by an individual or organization other than the individual or organization responsible for the personal service.

Information collected: Name, home address/city, home telephone number, email address, Spotter ID, radio call sign if applicable, county, elevation,  latitude/longitude, what hours a spotter can be contacted for severe weather reports, possession of a rain gauge, anemometer, thermometer, snow stick, or weather station, Twitter account/Facebook or any other social media account information, last time attended spotter class.

NOAA Routine Uses:  NOAA will use this information to formalize user eligibility and to contact the user when needed regarding weather–related activities. Disclosure of this information is permitted under the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. Section 552a) to be shared among NOAA staff for work-related purposes.  Disclosure of this information is also subject to all of the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notice Commerce/NOAA-11, Contact Information for Members of the Public Requesting or Providing Information Related to NOAA’s Mission.

Disclosure:  Furnishing this information is voluntary; however, failure to provide accurate information may delay or prevent the individual from completing the agreement and thus from being available for contact when needed for voluntary weather–related activities.