A cold front will stall near the Mississippi River Valley today with excessive rainfall bringing areas of flooding over parts of the region. Gusty winds and dry conditions will drive critical to extremely critical fire weather over portions of central and southern California through Thursday. Tropical Storm Watches have been issued for parts of the Florida Keys ahead of Tropical Cyclone Rafael. Read More >
Anchorage Weather Spotter Program
Upcoming training
For more information, please see the associated Press Release.
Latest Video training
Frequently Asked Questions
Weather spotters are critical eyes-on-the-ground volunteers who identify and report severe weather to the National Weather Service. In Alaska, this consists of reporting snowfall totals or the presence of freezing rain and ice accumulation. We encourage spotters to report any weather that is impacting their community.
Spotters provide verification of severe and hazardous weather. Due to the limited radar coverage in Alaska, our spotter reports are often the only way of confirming the type of weather occurring at the surface in a spotter's location. We use our spotter reports to aid in the forecasting and advisory process to make sure we are providing the most accurate and updated forecasts and weather advisories as possible. We also use the reports to inform the public through the media of any significant weather.
Great question! Significant or hazardous weather in Southcentral Alaska may include:
Severe weather
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Urban and/or small stream flooding
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Winter weather
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No. All of our spotters are volunteers.
Yes. All interested Weather Spotters must first fill out the New Spotter Sign-up Form, complete the Alaska Weather Spotter Training Course, and pass the Alaska Weather Spotter Quiz. A certificate will be emailed within a week of successful course completion. Occasionally, we have the ability to provide in-person training courses. When available, in-person training courses will be advertised on this page as well as on our social media accounts.
The training to become a certified Alaska Weather Spotter takes about 45 minutes to complete. Once trained, forecasters typically call our weather spotters a few times a year. We encourage our weather spotters to be proactive and call our office if they are observing hazardous weather or weather-related impacts within their communities. If you live in a more rural area, we might call more often since it can be difficult to get reports in those areas. Weather Spotters can also submit reports online as often as is convenient.
Anywhere in Alaska! Some areas where weather spotters are needed the most include the Kenai Peninsula, the Susitna and Matanuska Valleys, the Copper River Basin, Southwestern Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula, and the Aleutians.
It is not necessary to have any weather instruments to be a weather spotter. Snowboards and snowsticks are helpful when reporting snowfall measurements, however, unfortunately, we cannot supply any official equipment.
COOP observers submit weather information such as temperature and precipitation on a daily basis, while weather spotters only report hazardous weather impacting their communities as needed, particularly during a significant weather event.
We will need a phone number that we can call in the event we have additional questions. We also need an address or an approximate location (ex. 5 miles NE of Talkeetna) of where you are observing the hazardous weather. Your information will never be distributed. It will only be used for storm reports.
All weather spotters need to be 18 years of age or older.
You can request to update your information or be removed from the spotter list at any time.
Please don't hesitate to reach out! Email our spotter focal point, Nicole Sprinkles at nicole.sprinkles@noaa.gov or our Warning Coordination Meteorologist, Aviva Braun at aviva.braun@noaa.gov. You can also call the Anchorage NWS office at (907) 266-5105.
sign me up!
Ready to become an Alaska certified volunteer Weather Spotter? We'd love your help!
If you are not available to attend an in-person training course, but still would like to volunteer, please follow the steps below:
1. First, please read the NOAA Privacy Act Statement
2. Then, please enroll by completing the New Spotter Sign-up Form
3. Next, review the Alaska Weather Spotter Training materials.
A video training and quick reporting reference are also available.
4. Finally, please complete the Alaska Weather Spotter Quiz
We will be in touch with you shortly!
Thanks for your interest & participation!
Updated 1/16/2023