National Weather Service to hold Skywarn training

By News Team
ads@fillmorecountyjournal.com

Fri, Mar 26th, 2010
Posted in The Great Outdoors

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The National Weather Service (NWS) will be holding a SKYWARN Severe Weather Spotter Training class in Harmony, MN, on Wednesday, April 7th. The training will be held at the Harmony Fire Station just south of town, starting at 6:30 p.m.

The class will last around 2 hours and includes a multimedia presentation. Training is intended for storm spotters or potential storm spotters, but is open to the public and free of charge. A review of significant weather that hit the region in 2009 will be included, including the tornado that struck Austin, MN, in June 2009, and the flash flooding of August 2007.

The NWS relies heavily on actual storm reports from "spotters," which can include sheriff's departments, local emergency management officials, police and fire departments, amateur radio operators, or anyone else that has attended one of these classes. Anyone involved in the safety of others is encouraged to attend because severe weather safety is included.

Todd Shea, warning coordination meteorologist with the weather service in La Crosse, Wisconsin, organizes the training each year and encourages large groups and active volunteers. "Accurate and timely reports of severe weather by trained individuals not only helps our office, but can save lives in the local community. This has been proven over and over."

Fillmore County, as well as other areas of southeast Minnesota, always needs more "eyes" to report severe weather to the National Weather Service. Again, training is Wednesday, April 7, in Harmony starting at 6:30 p.m.

For further questions, you can contact the National Weather Service at: Todd Shea, WCM National Weather Service N2788 County Road FA La Crosse, WI 54601.

The service has a home page on the Internet: www.weather.gov/lacrosse. Todd's E-mail address is: todd.shea@noaa.gov.

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