re:clouds and spotters (solderpunk) 04/04/23
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Solderpunk recently gave a terrifying introduction into cloud
identification[1]. If you were thinking you might like to learn how to
properly classify and describe those puffy things above you, read his
post and get the notion out of your system as quickly as possible! I'm
still shaking from it myself.
To answer his question about my own small weather spotter training
story:
I was minding my own business, when suddenly I found that I had
somehow been subscribed to the Mid-Missouri Skywarn Association
mailing list on Groups.io. Honestly, I have no idea how I got there
(though I have some guesses), but their messages were coming into my
inbox, and so I figured it was probably time to get some training.
Very quickly, I learned that the Skywarn program is somewhat defunct.
Spotter IDs are no longer issued, the club is just a loose one at this
point. In-person training was sparse, if available at all, but online
training was an option (though, the old-timers seemed to frown on it
as valid--go figure).
I took the online training, and found it quite interesting. It mostly
consisted of looking at diagrams and then taking small quizzes
identifying weather from photos. To appease the old-timers (who I
admire as a group in general), I wanted to find in-person training as
well. My opportunity came when the NWS decided to hold a class in
Jefferson City, about 30min south of my home.
The class was at night, and in the winter. It was snowing
ever-so-lightly when I arrived. TV crews were there (to record a small
clip for the evening news weather segment), as were local emergency
coordinators. Ultimately, it ended up being a lecture with photos and
videos, and some quiz-ish sorts of activities. Our trainer was the
radar tech from the STL office. Solderpunk mentioned that his
impression of the spotter program was that it was "basically... a
program to 'crowdsource' early detection of heavy weather", but the
radar tech had a different take. She explained that due to technical
limitations, radar is very bad at getting ground-level information.
The NWS relies on trained spotters to report as much ground data as
possible, which they use primarily for early warning systems.
To be honest, the training was a little underwhelming. It consisted
primarily of learning how to file a proper report, how to estimate
wind speed, how to identify the parts of a thunderstorm and tornado,
how to spot false positive patterns, and how to properly report the
size of hail. The types of things that could have been in a brochure.
I'm probably selling it a little short; it was nice to have a highly
technical person there explaining things, and to be able to ask
questions.
Funny thing too: I was told that these trainings were usually only
held once a year in an area, so I'd better not miss it. 30min drive
wasn't terrible, but a couple weeks after the class, they announced
they'd have a training right in Fulton, 5min from my house!
If you like weather, and want to help out the NWS, I'd recommend
the spotter training. If you just like weather, you might find
the information a little thin, but still interesting. What you'll
definitely not get out of it is the ability to memorize, or even
understand cloud classifications!
[1]
gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space:70/0/~solderpunk/phlog/cloud-spotting-blues.txt
