Please note that these instructions pertain to spotters in the NWS Raleigh County Warning Area (central North Carolina) only!   Other NWS offices may have different requirements for spotters who take and complete the COMET SKYWARN Spotter Training.

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY:  NWS Raleigh has discontinued the issuance of, and use of spotter ID numbers.   Spotters who wish to obtain some sort of identification number are encouraged to consider becoming a CoCoRaHS observer to supplement their SKYWARN service.  

This free web-based Skywarn training class is available to the public, and is offered by the COMET MetED program. The NWS Raleigh is honoring this training and will include individuals who take this online training as part of its database of Skywarn spotters for central North Carolina. If you are interested in completing the COMET Skywarn training to be included as a trained Skywarn Spotter for the NWS Raleigh, please complete the following steps. Keep in mind that these steps are relevant ONLY to the NWS Raleigh Skywarn program. Other NWS offices may have different requirements for completing the COMET training as it pertains to their Skywarn program.

• Please verify that you live within the NWS Raleigh county warning area, because these instructions pertain to only those individuals who live within the NWS Raleigh County Warning Area.   If you are unsure if you live within the NWS Raleigh County Warning Area, please visit this site for more information to see which North Carolina counties are served by the NWS Raleigh:  https://www.erh.noaa.gov/rah/virtualtour/where.do.we.serve.php
• Complete the COMET training available at: https://www.meted.ucar.edu/training_course.php?id=23. Both modules must be completed, including The Role of the Skywarn Spotter, and Skywarn Spotter Convective Basics. This training takes approximately 2 hours to complete.
• You can choose to register as a SKYWARN Spotter with the National Weather Service Raleigh by using the checkbox that appears after you enroll in the course. By checking this box, you are indicating that you live within the NWS Raleigh County Warning Area, and want to be included in the NWS Raleigh database of SKYWARN spotters.   EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY:  NWS Raleigh has discontinued the issuance of, and use of spotter ID numbers.   Spotters who wish to obtain some sort of identification number are encouraged to consider becoming a CoCoRaHS observer to supplement their SKYWARN service.
• Once every 2 weeks, the NWS Raleigh receives a spreadsheet listing all of the people who have completed the COMET training in the NWS Raleigh county warning area.  Once we receive and review this list, we will contact all of the individuals on the list who live within the NWS Raleigh county warning area and will provide further instructions to complete their registration with the NWS Raleigh.  
• IMPORTANT:  you must check the box as described in the third bullet point above in order to notify the NWS Raleigh that you completed the COMET  SKYWARN  training.  Failure to check that box will result in the NWS Raleigh not receiving your contact information. 

Upon completion of the above steps, you will be included in the NWS Raleigh Skywarn Spotter Database. If you have any questions about these steps, please contact Nick Petro, NWS Raleigh Warning Coordination Meteorologist, by email at: nicholas.petro@noaa.gov.

Thank you for your interest in the SKYWARN program!