No Specialized Experience is Needed - Everyone is Welcome!!
The National Weather Service Office in North Platte, Nebraska, will provide both in person and virtual spotter training once again this Spring of 2023. Please see the schedule below for our latest spotter training opportunities. All interested spotters are welcome to attend any one of our spotter talks. This training is absolutely open to the public. If you have further questions, please contact the Warning Coordination Meteorologist Shawn Jacobs directly.
The National Weather Service Forecast Office in North Platte, in coordination with county emergency managers, volunteer fire departments and other local community organizations offer storm spotter classes at several locations to prepare for severe weather season. If you would like to assist your local community by becoming a volunteer storm spotter and reporting severe weather to the National Weather Service, or if you simply want to learn more about severe weather, consider attending one of our virtual classes. Classes are approximately 1.5 to 2 hours.
Attendees are taught the basics of thunderstorm development, storm structure, the features to look for, and where to find them. What, when and how to report information as well as basic severe weather safety are also covered.
We will also provide an Advanced Spotter Course this year where we will dig deeper into forecasting of a highly impactful severe "wind" event. We will put you in the "hot seat" as a warning forecaster and test your understanding of the storm spotter process. You do not need to attend the advanced training to be certified as a storm spotter.
Photo Courtesy: Michael Charnick - Frontier County (May 2019)
If you have any questions about a class date or location, please call the contact information provided, or visit with your local county emergency manager for scheduling the training. The training is free and may require pre-registration if noted on the date of training. If you have additional questions, email Warning Coordination Meteorologist Shawn Jacobs.
Additional learning opportunities include:
The schedule of classes is listed below. More dates will be added soon!
| Date | Location | Time | Contact | Basic/Advanced |
| 2/2/23 | Bassett - Volunteer Fire Department | 6:00 PM Central | Brown/Rock County Emergency Management | Combo Basic followed by Advanced |
| 2/11/23 | Virtual - See online registration below | 7:00 PM Central | NWS North Platte | Basic |
| 2/23/23 | Chappell- Chappell Fire Hall | 6:30 PM Mountain | Region 21 Emergency Management | Combo Basic followed by Advanced |
| 2/27/23 | Virtual - See online registration below | 7:00 PM Central | NWS North Platte | Basic |
| 3/2/23 | Burwell - Parish Center, 757 I Street, Burwell | 6:30 PM Central | Region 26 Emergency Management | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 3/8/23 | Hershey - Fire Hall | 7:00PM Central | Region 51 Emergency Management | Combo- Basic followed by Advanced |
| 3/9/23 | Brewster - United Church of Christ, 215 Lincoln Ave, Brewster | 6:30 PM Central | Region 26 Emergency Management | Basic |
| 3/13/23 | Grant - Grant Volunteer Fire Department | 7:00 PM Mountain | Perkins County Emergency Management | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 3/14/23 | Eustis - Eustis Volunteer Fire Department | 6:30 PM Central | Region 17 Emergency Management | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 3/15/23 | Bartlett - Bartlett Volunteer Fire Department | 7:00 PM Central | Deputy Emergency Manager - Wheeler County | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 3/16/23 | Taylor - Region 26 EOC | 6:30 PM Central | Region 26 Emergency Management | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 3/20/23 | Thedford - Thedford Volunteer Fire Department | 6:30 PM Central | Region 26 Emergency Management | Basic |
| 3/21/23 | North Platte - North Platte Community College North Campus 1101 Halligan Dr. | 7:00 PM Central | Region 51 Emergency Management | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 3/21/23 | Johnstown - Fair Grounds | 7:00 PM Central | Brown/Rock County Emergency Management | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 3/22/23 | Valentine - Valentine Volunteer Fire Hall | 2:00 PM Central | Cherry County Emergency Management | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 3/22/23 | Valentine - Niobrara National Scenic River Visitor Center 214 US-20, Valentine | 6:00 PM Central | Cherry County Emergency Management or Niobrara National Scenic River | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 3/23/23 | Ainsworth - Ainsworth Connection 224 N Main Street, Ainsworth | 6:00 PM Central | Brown/Rock County Emergency Management | Basic |
| 4/10/23 | Oshkosh - Wesleyan Church 17769 HWY 26 | 6:30 PM Mountain | Region 17 Emergency Management | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 4/11/23 | Ansley, 502 Division Street, Ansley | 6:30 PM Central | Custer County Emergency Management | Basic |
| 4/12/23 | Tryon - Fire Hall | 7:00 PM Central | McPherson County Emergency Management | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 4/13/23 | Broken Bow, 1249 South G Street, Broken Bow | 6:30 PM Central | Custer County Emergency Management | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 4/20/23 | Stapleton - Stapleton Fire Hall | 7:00 PM Central | Logan County Emergency Management | Combo - Basic Followed by Advanced |
| 4/24/23 | Springview - Springview Fire Hall | 7:00 PM Central | Keya Paha County Deputy EM | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 4/26/23 | Gordon/Rushvillle - TBD | 6:30 PM Mountain | Region 23 Emergency Management | Combo - Basic followed by Advanced |
| 4/27/23 | Hay Springs - Northwest Rural Electric | 9:00 AM Mountain | Region 23 Emergency Management | Combo - Basic followed by Advance |
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on YouTube
LBF RSS Feed