National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Air Quality Concerns; Fire Weather; Extreme Heat; Flash Flooding

Wildfire smoke continues to result in poor air quality from the Upper Midwest into the Northeast. Dangerous heat and fire weather concerns for portions of the Four Corners region into the central Great Basin. Heavy rainfall and flash flooding possible for the Southeast through Monday. For Hawaii, gusty trade winds a drier weather could result in any fires that start to spread rapidly. Read More >

The National Weather Service relies on trained volunteers to supplement doppler radar information on severe storms and tornadoes. These dedicated individuals volunteer their time to learn about and detect severe weather. Their valuable cooperation is important in the warning process. Weather reports from trained spotters are used along with doppler radar data to issue warnings of tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, and flash floods.

This spring, we are providing a series of videos highlighting all aspects of the spotter training. The video series will be released through late April and May.

Part 1: An Introduction to Our Local Spotter Training Program
Part 2: Communications
Part 3: Identifying Severe Thunderstorms
Part 4: Wind and Hail
Part 5: Tornadoes 
Part 6: Flooding and Lightning
Part 7: Reporting

If you have any questions or if you have a group or community interested in Online Spotter Training Session this spring, please
Click Here to E-mail Our Coordinator.

If you are new to the network and want to sign up, please click here to sign up. Once you fill out the registration form, we will reach out to you with more information on how to contact us directly.