Join our Team of Valuable Weather and Climate Volunteers!
The National Weather Service (NWS) has great resources to help monitor the weather, including satellite imagery, dual-polarization Doppler radar, automated weather stations, and access to an increasing number of webcams. Although those resources are very important, the weather and climate reports received from our volunteers are also critical for the success of our NWS warning, forecasting, and climate programs.
Our vital and highly valued volunteers include storm spotters, cooperative observers who take daily temperature and precipitation measurements, CoCoRaHS daily precipitation observers, and mobile Skywarn storm spotters. We also greatly appreciate those who post significant weather events on social media.
The NWS has designated the first Saturday in December as Skywarn Recognition Day (SRD) to honor the generous contributions of our Skywarn spotters who use amateur radio communications to support NWS warning operations and relay storm reports. We also consider SRD as an opportunity to show our appreciation to all of our other vital and valued weather and climate volunteers.
This year, SRD began at 5 PM MST on Friday, December 4th, which is the same time as midnight on Saturday in Greenwich, England. Our Skywarn spotters used amateur radios to contact as many people as possible within the United States and around the world during this 24-hour event. Our Skywarn volunteers used the special event ID, November Zero Whiskey (N0W) and made contact with about 300 amateur radio operators throughout the United States and even some foreign countries, including South Africa, South Korea, England, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands.
Anyone is welcome to come visit our Grand Junction NWS forecast office and receive a tour to see how our forecast office provides free 24/7 weather services. Visitors are encouraged to come a little early and watch the weather balloon release, which occurs every day around 4 PM MST and 5 PM MDT.
***************************************************************************************************************
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on YouTube
GJT RSS Feed
