National Weather Service offers storm spotter classes in West Tennessee

JACKSON, Tenn. — The National Weather Service in Memphis is offering classes to train storm spotters ahead of severe weather season.

The Skywarn storm spotter training helps meteorologists during stormy weather by providing ground-truth reports from trained observers.

“We need reports from people and so if we know that we’ve trained people on what to look for and how to report that’ll make that process go a lot easier so that we can make our warnings are accurate,” said an official with the National Weather Service.

Four in-person classes scheduled for March

Four in-person courses will be offered at the beginning of March. One class will be held in West Tennessee in Tipton County at the Baptist Memorial Health Care Academic Building at Dyersburg State’s Covington campus on Thursday, March 5. The address is 3149 Hwy 51 South.

Another nearby class will be at the Caruthersville Public Library in Caruthersville, Missouri. Additional classes will be held in Jonesboro, Arkansas and Nesbit, Mississippi.

Two virtual classes will be offered on Wednesday, February 25 and Monday, March 9. For information on how to register, click here.

The National Weather Service recommends retaking the course every two years.

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