Storm Spotter Training Announced

The Clay County Emergency Management team is teaming up with the National Weather Service for the annual Storm Spotter Talk training. This course will take place on March 28, from 7 – 9 pm at the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, 1600 N. State Route 291 in Liberty, MO.

The National Weather Service needs real time reports of hail size wind speed and tornado development and known damage in order to affectively warn the public. Even as new technology allows the Weather Service to issue warnings with more lead time, spotters will always serve as links between radar indications of severe weather and ground truth information.

The storm spotter training session will provide both in person and online training classes. Training sessions will be about two hours long each. The first hour will cover the essentials of what you need to know to report severe weather to the National Weather Service, and the second hour will cover safety aspects for spotters and the general public. 

The class provides a basic understanding of thunderstorm structure, spotting techniques, reporting criteria, safety information and procedures. The National Weather Service will train participants to recognize the different types of weather events and what makes these events particularly dangerous to people. Pre-registration for this course is not required. 

KPGZ News - Brian Watts contributed to this story