National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

2023 Severe Storm Spotter Training Schedule

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 publicIf 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: 

  1. Weather Spotter's Field Guide - large pdf file which may take a while to download

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.

 

 

BASIC SPOTTER VIRTUAL TALK

Registration URL

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/3252887987039783005

 

 
 
 
See the Schedule on ESRI Maps
 
 
 

KML icon Download these classes in KML format.


 

Did you attend one of our training classes?
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Note: We will NOT distribute this information outside our office.

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