CLEVELAND - This week is Severe Weather Awareness Week across Ohio as we get "weather ready" for another season of severe thunderstorms with damaging winds, hail and possible tornadoes here in northeast Ohio.
Today, we let you know how to become the eyes and ears of the National Weather Service as a SKYWARN spotter.
Each year a dedicated group of volunteer weather spotters, called SKYWARN, provide National Weather Service offices across Ohio with important eyewitness information about tornadoes, flash floods and damaging thunderstorms.
SKYWARN spotters are people with an interest in the weather and an interest in helping others.
By far the largest number of SKYWARN spotters in our part of the state are ham radio operators. Amateur radio emergency groups and amateur radio clubs relay important information to emergency management and the weather service by radio.
The Cleveland weather office operates a SKYWARN ham radio station whenever tornado watches or warnings are in effect across northern Ohio. Volunteers at the Cleveland office broadcast radar information about the location of possible tornadoes and solicit reports from SKYWARN hams in the area of concern.
New doppler weather radars can identify rotating thunderstorms, sometimes.even before a tornado touches ground. Still, SKYWARN spotters are essential to confirm that tornadoes have touched down, to report on the extent of damage and to provide added details of a threat to a community.
To our many friends in the SKYWARN program, we at the National Weather Service say, thanks for your great help.
If you are interested in becoming involved with SKYWARN, please check out our web site at http://www.weather.gov/cle/SKYWARN.
If you are interested in ham radio, we can help you find a person or radio club in your area that will assist you in getting your ham radio license.
Again as a part of emergency preparedness, the Ohio Emergency Management Agency, County Emergency Managers and those of us at the National Weather Service want you to know about the fine help that ham radio and other volunteer SKYWARN spotters provide to the state.
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Thanks to the National Weather Service in Cleveland for this information.
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