Weather Spotter (SKYWARN)

Trained weather spotters alert the NWS to significant weather events in their communities and help us determine when and where we need to issue warnings.  Participation in the SKYWARN® spotter program is entirely voluntary.  You are under no obligation and cannot be compensated.  However, your vigilance is greatly appreciated - it helps others and could save lives!

There are currently two methods to becoming a SKYWARN® weather spotter for NWS Charleston, WV: 1) attending an in-person class or live webinar, or 2) watching a recorded training and taking an online quiz.   

Training Method #1:  Attending an In-Person Training Class or Live Webinar

The National Weather Service, in cooperation with county Emergency Management directors and/or civic groups, will typically hold several weather spotter classes each year.  Additional classes will be held by live online webinar.  A schedule of upcoming classes can be found below.  These classes are open to the public and free of charge. 

Note: These courses may be canceled or changed on short notice due to active weather. We will communicate these changes via this website and our social media channels.

Training Method #2:  Watching Recorded Webinars and Taking Online Quiz

New weather spotters, or spotters needing a refresher, who are unable to make it to a live training, may watch the following recorded webinars.  Viewing these webinars and successfully completing the quiz linked below with a passing score of 70 or above will qualify you to be a weather spotter for NWS Charleston, WV. 

Basic Weather Spotter Class	Winter Weather Spotter Class
Basic Weather Spotter Class Slides (pdf)	Winter Weather Spotter Class Slides (pdf)

Please complete the Quiz after watching the videos.

We will be notified after you have successfully completed the quiz (passing score of 70 required) and will follow up with additional information by email.  Be sure to check your spam folder as sometimes follow up emails get sent there.

Additional Resources for Spotters

	Weather Spotter's Field Guide (pdf)		NOAA Cloud Chart (pdf)

Cooperative Weather Observers

Cooperative Weather Observers are community volunteers that take various weather observations for the National Weather Service.  Most observers record measurements of high and low temperatures, rainfall, snowfall and snow depth around 7 am local time each morning.  NWS Charleston, WV manages a dense network of Cooperative Weather Observers but we still need observers in a few locations (counties marked in yellow in the map below).

The data recorded by our Cooperative Weather Observers is used in real-time to assist our forecast and warning operations and is stored for future use at the National Centers for Environmental Information.  In fact, data from Cooperative Weather Observers makes up the backbone of the long term climate record in the United States and some of the Cooperative Weather Observer locations in our region have weather observations dating back well into the 19th century!  These include:

• Ashland, KY (1896)
• Beckley, WV (1893)
• Buckhannon, WV (1888)
• Charleston, WV (1892)
• Elkins, WV (1899)
• Glenville, WV (1888)
• Huntington, WV (1891)
• Madison, WV (1894)
• Spencer, WV (1892)

Find out more about our Cooperative Weather Observer program and view the data from the links below...

National Cooperative Observer Page	Cooperative Weather Observer Newsletter

• Daily Hydrometeorological Products   Issued: 12/20/2024 07:00:45 PM UTC
• Daily Temperature & Precipitation Maps (60-day archive)
• NOWData Archive (long term archive)
• National Centers for Environmental Information (certified data for official purposes/court cases)

Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network

CoCoRaHS (pronounced KO-ko-rozz) is a grassroots volunteer network of backyard weather observers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow) in their local communities.  By using low-cost measurement tools, stressing training and education, and utilizing an interactive website, the goal is to provide the highest quality data for natural resource, education and research applications. 

Why do you need to know how much precipitation fell in my backyard?

Even in the day and age in which we live with Doppler Radar scanning the skies and automated weather observing equipment in many communities, we still need humans manually measuring the precipitation in their backyards.  These manual observations serve as ground truth for the precipitation estimates we get from Doppler Radar and automated station measurements.  Manual observations also fill in gaps where automated equipment doesn’t exist.  Plus, there are no automated instruments in our region that measure the snow.  So, we rely heavily on manual human observations to know how much snow fell.

Here’s a recent example of how rainfall varied across the “Metro Valley” between Huntington and Charleston. 

Even though we have several CoCoRaHS observers in this heavily populated area, even more are needed to accurately map the rainfall.  In more rural counties of our region, we often have no observers at all.

How do I become a CoCoRaHS observer?

Contributing your precipitation measurements each day takes less than 5 minutes (there’s even an app for that!) and it’s a fun way to learn about the wonderful natural resource that falls from the sky.  Here’s how to join and start sharing your precipitation measurements:

• Sign up at www.cocorahs.org/Application.aspx.

• Obtain a high capacity 4” diameter rain gauge and place it in a convenient to access and unobstructed location. 
  • Using this type of rain gauge ensures everybody is using the same high quality equipment. 
  • Click here to read why automated rain gauges aren’t used.
• Take a short training delivered online.

• Start taking precipitation measurements each day, preferably around 7 am and entering your measurements either via the website or mobile app.
  • You may be wondering why we ask you to take your precipitation measurements at 7 am?  That’s the time when forecasters compile all of the precipitation measurements received over the prior 24 hour period from human read and automated gauges.  Among it’s many uses, this data is analyzed and used to quality control radar precipitation estimates, helps forecasters understand which areas are more or less prone to flooding if additional rain is expected, and assists hydrologists with river forecasting.  If 7 am doesn’t work for you, you can still participate and enter your precipitation measurements when it’s more convenient for you.   

Have additional questions or want to learn more?

The CoCoRaHS website is a great resource to visit in order to learn more about the network and to look at precipitation measurements being collected right now across our region.  Each state has coordinators that can also help answer any questions you may have.  Links to these contacts are included below:

• CoCoRaHS in West Virginia
• CoCoRaHS in Ohio
• CoCoRaHS in Kentucky
• CoCoRaHS in Virginia