By Pete Kendall/reporter@trcle.com
December 24, 2008 10:01 am
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It’s not the quantity of Johnson County storm spotters that’s important to the National Weather Service when severe weather strikes. It’s the quality.
To that end, the government agency will be looking for at least a few good men, and women, to train as spotters on Feb. 10 for its program called SKYWARN.
The location of the two-hour seminar, probably in Cleburne, has not been determined.
Bill Bunting, meteorologist for the Fort Worth office of the National Weather Service, relies heavily on weather radar to help tell him what’s happening overhead. But that’s not the only information he’s seeking.
“We get useful information from radar and spotters,” Bunting said. “Spotters are part of an integrated system, tied into the local warning system. They’re part of the system that keeps us safe.
“When I sit down in front of the radar to work a severe weather event, I automatically feel more comfortable if we have reliable spotters in that area. The radar will show rotation within the storm. What we need from spotters is additional detail on what’s happening close to the ground. Are there signs of something about to develop?”
Just 15 to 20 extra minutes to warn residents can mean the difference in life and death, Bunting said.
“A good example was a night in May of 2006 in Collin County when a thunderstorm developed. Though we knew the potential for funnel clouds, the initial warning of a tornado came from a spotter who saw increasing rotation within the cloud.
“That allowed for timely warnings. I have no doubt that saved lives. People heard the warning sirens. Even if they weren’t in the path of the tornado, they called friends and family who were.”
Reliable spotters know what they’re looking at in a cloud. Unreliable spotters may not. That’s why training is vital.
“SKYWARN is driven by the quality of the spotters and their ability to position themselves,” Bunting said. “If we have five spotters, and we know their information is going to be accurate, that’s all we need.
“But we encourage everyone to attend the training, even if they aren’t going to be spotters. Training benefits everyone. It’s important that people seeing clouds be able to make distinctions. We see lots of scary looking clouds.”
Specifically, potential spotters are trained “to recognize visual clues relative to severe storm potential,” Bunting said. “Our approach is a spotter check list. We talk about each attribute of spotting.
“We go through the visual clues of what a storm should look like. We hope to give spotters all the tools they need. They’re the unsung heroes.”
Storm spotters are not the same as storm chasers, Bunting stressed. Chasers may put their lives in jeopardy by following a funnel cloud for miles on dirt roads.
“We get useful information from both,” Bunting said, “but spotters are part of an integrated system, and chasers are typically on their own.”
Some storms wreak more havoc from the ground than they do from the air. Bunting issued his own warning.
“One of the biggest dangers out there is flash flooding,” he said. “We try to hammer that point home. If you come across a flooded road, turn around and go back, even if the car in front of you made it across. We lose more people to flash flooding than to anything else.”
According to the National Weather Service, 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes occur across the United States annually.
“NWS encourages anyone with an interest in public service and access to communication, such ham radio, to join the SKYWARN program. Volunteers include police and fire personnel, dispatchers, EMS workers, public utility workers and other concerned private citizens,” the agency Web page reads.
“Individuals affiliated with hospitals, schools, churches, nursing homes or who have a responsibility for protecting others are also encouraged to become spotters.”
Classes are free. For more information, contact the local warning coordination meteorologist at www.stormready.noaa.gov/contact.htm.
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