Baltimore/Washington

Weather Forecast Office

NWS Baltimore/Washington SKYWARN

To Submit a Weather Report
(For registered SKYWARN spotters)

Rain/Snow/Ice reports:
* You can now submit heavy rainfall (1"+), as well as STORM TOTAL snow and/or
ice reports online at: https://goo.gl/forms/9617O51NiDXOvYwD2

Flooding, Hail, Wind or Tornado reports:
* Use our SKYWARN Spotter Hotline 800 #.Other reports can be emailed to:
Lwx-report@noaa.gov

Upcoming SKYWARN® Classes
These classes are free and open to the public!

MUST BE 18+ YEARS OLD TO RECEIVE A SPOTTER ID

CLASS

DATE

TIME

COUNTY

LOCATION

REGISTRATION

Basics Classes

Basics

(CLASS POSTPONED - Participants have been emailed and will need to re-register when class is rescheduled)

2/11/2025

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Fairfax County VA

Fairfax County Public Safety and Transportation Center

4890 Alliance Drive Fairfax VA 22030

3/06/2025

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

City of Alexandria, VA

Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Academic Building #1

3625 Potomac Ave Alexandria, VA 22305

City of Alexandria BASICS SKYWARN

Basics

Advanced - Winter Classes (Requires Basics SKYWARN Class Credit)

Winter

Advanced - Severe Classes (Requires Basics SKYWARN Class Credit)

Severe

Advanced - Tropical Classes (Requires Basics SKYWARN Class Credit)

Tropical

Advanced - Flood Classes

Flood

3/11/2025

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Fairfax County VA

Fairfax County Public Safety and Transportation Center

4890 Alliance Drive Fairfax VA 22030

Fairfax VA Flood SKYWARN

Further classes will be scheduled through the remainder of the year

Basics SKYWARN Classes are open to all of the general public.

Important notes:
-Winter, Convection, and Tropical classes require SKYWARN® Basics as a prerequisite.
-You may attend a class even if it is not in the county you reside in.
-Due to the high demand of classes we can not offer classes in every region every season.

What is SKYWARN®?

SKYWARN® is a national network of volunteer severe weather spotters. The spotters are trained by local National Weather Service Forecast Offices on how to spot severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail and flooding. In some parts of the country, spotters also report snowfall and ice accumulation.

Join NWS_BaltWash SKYWARN®

National Weather Service Baltimore/Washington

SKYWARN® Presentations

Descriptions of SKYWARN Spotter Classes

** National online spotter courses available too, BUT... **

National SKYWARN® courses are also offered online by COMET on their MetED site (located here.) These courses can be extra value to you however they do not replace the SKYWARN® Basics course taught by one of our meteorologists from the National Weather Service Baltimore/Washington. These online courses leave out vital information on the multitude of weather threats we get in the Mid-Atlantic region. You must take a class with us to become registered as a spotter with our office.

Amateur Radio and SKYWARN

National Capital Area Skywarn Support Group

Additional SKYWARN® Information

National SKYWARN Page

Print out a Spotter ID card

Weather Spotter's Field Guide

Guía Práctica del Observador del Tiempo

Click here to access PDF versions of our SKYWARN presentations