This module compiled with information courtesy of the official NOAA Storm Spotters Guide.
 
INTRODUCTION:
GLOSSARY As in the other sections, you can click on the glossary image wherever you see it, and the glossary will open in another window. Just close that window when you are ready to continue.

Photo by Brian Morganti

The National Weather Service (NWS) has a number of devices for detecting severe thunderstorms. Included in these are radar, satellite, and lightning detection networks. However, the most important tool for observing thunderstorms is the trained eye of the storm spotter. While radar is used quite often in severe storm warnings, conventional weather radar will only indicate areas and intensities of precipitation and larger scale wind fields. It does not give any indications of cloud formations associated with a storm. Doppler radar, which is used across the country, gives some indication of air motions inside a storm. Doppler radar, though, will not give these indications down to the ground level. It is impossible for any radar to detect every severe weather event in its coverage area, and radar occasionally suggests severe weather, when in fact, none is present.

Satellite and lightning detection networks provide general thunderstorm locations and are extremely valuable in data-sparse regions (such as over mountainous terrain or bodies of water). They help to identify persistent thunderstorm areas and can be of aid in flash flooding forecasting. These systems provide little in the way of quantitative real-time information, though, and are not especially helpful during times of fast-breaking severe weather.

As a trained spotter, you perform an invaluable service for the NWS. Your real-time observations of tornadoes, hail, wind, and significant cloud formations provide a truly reliable information base for severe weather detection and verification. By providing observations, you are assisting NWS staff members in their warning decisions and enabling the NWS to fulfill its mission of protecting life and property. You are helping to provide the citizens of your community with potentially life saving information.


Prerequisites for this Training Module:

The information contained in these pages is not for the novice spotter/chaser. It is recommended that spotters go through the BASIC SKYWARN MODULE, and one or two basic spotter classes, as well as have some actual spotting experience before attempting this advanced training material. You should be comfortable with the basic concepts of storm structure and storm spotting. Obviously, you should have a desire to learn the latest concepts of tornado and severe thunderstorm behavior.

GLOSSARY

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DISCLAIMER: Storm spotting/chasing has the potential to be a life threatening activity. The material presented here is for educational purposes only. You are strongly suggested to contact someone in your area about getting official SKYWARN training and riding along with someone with spotting/chasing experience before ever attempting to do so on your own. By viewing the material contained within spotterguides.us, you agree that you alone are accept responsibility for what you do with this information.
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