North Platte, NE
Weather Forecast Office
No Specialized Experience is Needed - Everyone is Welcome!!
The National Weather Service Office in North Platte, Nebraska, will provide both in person and virtual spotter training once again this Spring of 2023. Please see the schedule below for our latest spotter training opportunities. All interested spotters are welcome to attend any one of our spotter talks. This training is absolutely open to the public. If you have further questions, please contact the Warning Coordination Meteorologist Shawn Jacobs directly.
The National Weather Service Forecast Office in North Platte, in coordination with county emergency managers, volunteer fire departments and other local community organizations offer storm spotter classes at several locations to prepare for severe weather season. If you would like to assist your local community by becoming a volunteer storm spotter and reporting severe weather to the National Weather Service, or if you simply want to learn more about severe weather, consider attending one of our virtual classes. Classes are approximately 1 to 1.5 hours.
Attendees are taught the basics of thunderstorm development, storm structure, the features to look for, and where to find them. What, when and how to report information as well as basic severe weather safety are also covered.
We will also provide an Advanced Spotter Course this year where we will dig deeper into forecasting of a highly impactful severe "wind" event. We will put you in the "hot seat" as a warning forecaster and test your understanding of the storm spotter process. You do not need to attend the advanced training to be certified as a storm spotter.
Photo Courtesy: Michael Charnick - Frontier County (May 2019)
If you have any questions about a class date or location, please call the contact information provided, or visit with your local county emergency manager for scheduling the training. The training is free and may require pre-registration if noted on the date of training. If you have additional questions, email Warning Coordination Meteorologist Shawn Jacobs.
Additional learning opportunities include:
The schedule of classes is listed below. One need only attend a single class of each type, but you must attend a Basic course prior to an Advanced course.
HAZARDS
Active Alerts
National Radar
National Hurricane Center
Storm Prediction Center
Weather Prediction Center
River Flooding
Decision Support
Submit a Storm Report
Recent Storm Reports
CURRENT CONDITIONS
CoCoRaHS
Enhanced Data Display
Local Radar
National Radar Mosiac
Observations
National Snow Cover
Precipitation Mapped
Regional Links
Satellite
Snowfall Analysis
FORECASTS
Area Forecast Discussion
Aviation Weather Center
Local Aviation Weather
Fire Weather
Recreation Forecast
National Graphical Forecast
Local Graphical Forecast
CLIMATE
Local Climate
National Climate
North Platte - Daily
North Platte - Monthly
Valentine - Daily
Valentine - Monthly
Broken Bow - Daily
Broken Bow - Monthly
Imperial - Daily
Imperial - Monthly
NIDIS Drought
NOAA Climate Science
Local Storm Reports
Local Drought Statement
US Dept of Commerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Weather Service
North Platte, NE
5250 E. Lee Bird Drive
North Platte, NE 69101-2473
308-532-4936
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