McHenry County Storm Trackers

Skywarn Background

Skywarn was created by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) in the early 1970s to aid forecasting meteorologists in issuing severe weather warnings. Although Skywarn volunteers provide details of all types of severe weather, the primary goal is to aid in spotting local severe storms. Essentially, the Skywarn spotter is the eyes and ears of the NWS out in the field. Their responsibility is to report severe weather such as tornados, hail, flooding, and wind damage.

Since the beginning of the Skywarn program, the data provided by the spotters along with Doppler radar technology, has allowed the improvement of warnings issued all over the United States. The warnings today give people more time to protect their lives and property and also has allowed the warnings to be more accurate.

Interested in becoming a Skywarn Spotter?

The NWS encourages anyone who is interested in public service and access to communication to become involved with the Skywarn program. Some examples of the volunteers for the program are Emergency Managers, Police officers, firefighters, EMS personnel, public utility workers, as well as anyone responsible for protecting other people such as hospital workers, school administration, churches, and other areas.

There are 122 local NWS Forecasting Offices that have their own Warning Coordination Meteorologist. Every year free training is offered through these offices. Each session is about 2 hours long and will cover the basics for storm spotting. For more details as to when these classes will be conducted in your area, please follow the link below to obtain contact information for the Warning Coordination Meteorologist here.

More Skywarn Links

For the Skywarn Homepage, click here

For the NWS Skywarn page, click here

For the NWS Spotter's Field Guide, click here

For more Skywarn Safety Tips, click here

For the Skywarn Store, click here

Skywarn® and the Skywarn® logo are registered trademarks of the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, used with permission.
Skywarn information source: Information Source: http://skywarn.org/about/