Storm spotter training coming to Whitfield

Published 11:12 pm Thursday, March 11, 2010

Whitfield County Emergency Services, in conjunction with the National Weather Service, is hosting a weather spotter training class on Monday at 7 p.m. in the Whitfield County Health Department Building at 800 Professional Blvd.

The effects of severe weather are felt every year by many Americans. To obtain critical weather information, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service (NWS), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, established Skywarn with partner organizations. Skywarn is a volunteer program with nearly 290,000 trained severe weather spotters. These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the NWS.

Although Skywarn spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, the main responsibility is to identify and describe local severe storms.

In the average year, 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes occur throughout the country. These events threaten life and property.

This class is free and is open to anyone who has an interest in severe weather and/or public service. The objective of the training is to provide the knowledge to identify and report severe, key weather features. The class will be about two hours and all course materials are provided.

A certificate of completion will be given at the end of the class. For information, please contact Jeffrey Putnam at (706) 370-4911 or jputnam@whitfieldcountyga.com.