Late spring brings with it the start of a new severe weather season. As we saw this week in the Dayton area, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes can cause damage and threaten life. The Hara Arena, the former site of Hamvention was destroyed by a tornado.

National Weather Service forecasters track storms carefully using radar and automated weather observations, but their forecasts can be aided by Skywarn reports from trained observers. These eye-witness observations can validate radar data and help forecasters make decisions on whether to issue additional warnings.

I recently attended a Skywarn training session conducted by the Norton, MA National Weather Service office. The class was held at the Milford, MA Fire Department and lasted about two and a half hours.

Rob Macedo (KD1CY), the Norton office’s Skywarn amateur radio coordinator, taught the class with the assistance of an NWS forecaster. Rob started the training with an overview of how often southern New England has severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. He discussed a few of the tornadoes that have occurred in New England, and the role that Skywarn spotters played by informing NWS forecasters of conditions on the ground.

Rob taught that moisture, instability, and lift are the ingredients needed to form a thunderstorm. He also told us about the stages of a thunderstorm, thunderstorm types, and cloud identification.

The instructors spent quite a bit of time on thunderstorm types and cloud identification. Properly identifying clouds is key to spotters providing accurate reports to the forecasters.

The NWS forecaster concluded the training with a discussion on challenges of weather spotting in New England and the criteria for reporting weather phenomena.

This was the fifth time I’ve taken the course over the last 20 years. I was impressed by how the training materials use videos and photographs from New England to help prospective spotters better understand what they’ll see here. My first training I took in the late 1990s was done with a slide projector showing photographs of perfect examples of thunderstorms in the mid-west, things we’d never see here.

Skywarn training is a wonderful opportunity for any weather-lover, and a great way to fulfill our obligation to use amateur radio to benefit the public. Learn more about local Skywarn programs at the NWS Norton office, and at the WX1BOX website.

Brian, W1BP