A person in dark clothing stands looking out at water and a storm.
What is a storm spotter and how do they help during severe weather season? And how can you become one? Read on. Image via Simon Buchou/ Unsplash.
Severe weather coming
Severe weather season in the United States starts now. As of the morning of March 14, 2025, NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center is calling for a moderate risk of severe thunderstorms today and tonight across parts of the U.S. including the Mid-Mississippi Valley to the Lower-Mississippi Valley, including portions of the Lower Ohio Valley. NOAA pointed to the possibility for:
Tornadoes, several of which could be strong, [and] widespread damaging winds with gusts from 70 to 90 mph. Scattered large hail up to baseball size will be possible.
For the most up-to-date information, visit NOAA’s SPC website.
But you don’t have to stand aside, just waiting and looking online, when severe weather is looming. You can join the many citizens who volunteer to serve as storm spotters to help people stay safe as bad weather threatens.
Storm spotters are vital during severe weather season
Every year the United States averages 10,000 thunderstorms and 1,300 tornadoes, plus 5,000 flood events. That’s according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is the parent organization of the National Weather Service. These weather disasters cause at least 500 deaths per year and nearly $15 billion in damage. But storm spotters can help keep people safe.
Every extra pair of eyes on the sky helps. The National Weather Service has 122 forecast offices across the country. And during severe weather events, the meteorologists are poring over radar and satellite data, monitoring current conditions from airports and other weather stations, and updating forecasts and issuing vital weather watches and warnings to keep the public safe. They work hard, but they’re not always able to see what the storms are actually producing outside. And that makes trained storm spotters a vital part of severe weather forecasting.
What is a storm spotter?
A storm spotter is a trained volunteer who helps relay reports back to the National Weather Service during severe weather events, usually severe thunderstorms. Just in the SKYWARN program through the National Weather Service (which began in the 1970s) there are up to 400,000 spotters across the United States!
Anyone can be a storm spotter, but many of them are also first responders, such as firefighters and police officers. In addition, emergency managers, dispatchers and public utility workers also make up the 400,000 trained spotters across the U.S. While most of these spotters are people who would already be out during inclement weather, regular citizens, especially those with a drive to serve their communities, are also invited to become a trained storm spotter. Maybe that’s you?
Looking down a road in New Mexico toward a thunderstorm. Rain is falling in the distance as a bolt of lighting reaches down from the storm and hits the ground.
A storm in New Mexico. Image via Raychel Sanner/ Pexels.
Becoming a trained storm spotter
To become a storm spotter, you must go through training with your local National Weather Service office. The training (which is free) typically lasts two hours. In that two-hour training, meteorologists with the NWS will cover a variety of topics. Some of the topics include the basics of thunderstorms and how they develop, plus how to identify potential severe weather features in thunderstorms. Once you know what you’re looking at, you learn what information to report, how to report it, and how to stay safe during severe weather.
Severe weather can be very different depending on where you live, which is why going to a spotter trainer course local to you is important. Are you interested in becoming a member of SKYWARN and being a trained spotter? You can find classes in your community with your local National Weather Service office here.
It is important to note that due to recent layoffs, many NWS offices are short-staffed. This means some community programs, such as SKYWARN training, might be canceled or postponed. Be sure to reach out to your local NWS office if you have any questions about training. An online training option is also available. But again, you’ll still want to reach out to your local office to see if they have any additional training or needs you must meet.
A vital piece of the severe weather puzzle
The National Weather Service issues roughly 50,000 weather warnings each year. They do so using technology like weather satellites and a network of 160 Doppler radars. These radars allow meteorologists to show where precipitation is falling and storms are forming. But they’re also able to analyze the winds inside the storm. The radar shows where damaging wind gusts are occurring or rotation is developing that could produce a tornado.
Additionally, modern weather radars are also dual polarization (dual-pol). Dual-pol radars allow meteorologists to not just see what the winds inside a storm are doing but also the shape of precipitation. This helps them differentiate precipitation types (rain, snow, hail). But it can also identify non-precipitation objects, such as birds, bugs, smoke, and – notably – tornado debris.
A thunderstorm that appears purple. Lightning is right of the storm, which is over a wheat field.
You don’t have to go out in the storm to be a storm spotter. You can contribute reports from your home as well! Image via Raychel Sanner/ Pexels.
If the radars are so good, why the need for a storm spotter?
Because ground truth is vital!
While radar can observe tornado debris, having the ground truth of a tornado at a specific location is priceless. It helps the National Weather Service get a better idea of specifically where the tornado is occurring and where it is going. The NWS will then use that information to update the tornado warning and include more communities. Reports of the tornado on the ground will also help with extending the warning or expiring it if spotters see the tornado dissipate.
In the image below is an example of a tornado warning from 2013, issued by the National Weather Service in Duluth, Minnesota. In the highlighted areas you will see the “source” of the warning coming from a spotter who confirmed the tornado on the ground. The NWS then took this information, updated the warning to include more hazards, impacts and information for those in danger from the tornado.
An example of a tornado warning that has the source coming from a trained spotter.
Warning example from the National Weather Service.
Spotting non-tornadic storms
Spotters are also important for non-tornado producing severe thunderstorms. Severe thunderstorms can produce damaging wind gusts and large hail. A spotter is able to see the actual size of hailstones falling out of a storm, damage produced by strong winds or any visual features on the storm itself. As an example, a spotter might see a rotating wall cloud, which is a lowering from a thunderstorm where a tornado can develop. A report of a rotating wall cloud tells NWS meteorologists that a storm may produce a tornado and needs extra monitoring.
Spotters are also critical for reporting flooding. Flash flooding on area roadways or rising water from creeks and rivers during heavy rain are all life-threatening situations. This information is vital to updating warnings and alerting the public in an effort to protect them and their property. Storm spotters help fill in the gaps and provide vital ground truth, making them important partners with the National Weather Service during this severe weather season.
Keep up to date
During severe weather season, keep up to date with your local forecasts with the National Weather Service and get severe weather outlooks from the Storm Prediction Center.
Bottom line: Storm spotters are an important piece of the severe weather puzzle. They keep the National Weather Service meteorologists informed so they can, in turn, keep the public safe and informed. Members of the general public can become trained spotters if they take a course with their local weather service office.
Rachel Duensing
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About the Author:
Rachel Duensing is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist by the American Meteorological Society and is currently a meteorologist and climate reporter at CBS17 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Rachel has previously worked in Fort Myers, Florida and Carterville, Illinois. In addition to daily weather, she has covered tornado outbreaks, hurricanes, and extreme heat and cold. Rachel received her Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology and Digital Media from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. While at Valpo, she was a member of the Valparaiso University Storm Intercept Team, and along with professors and classmates, chased tornadoes and severe weather across the United State's Great Plains and Midwest. Rachel grew up outside Chester, Illinois, a small town in the southern end of the state (nowhere near Chicago!). When she was only 10 years old, Rachel learned about weather in science class, and when those lessons were followed up by a tornado outbreak outside her town, she took it as a sign and has been in love with weather ever since! When not forecasting the weather or reporting on weather and climate, Rachel spends her time volunteering at a local cat shelter and watching hockey with her husband.