Learn how to be a storm spotter at Feb. 22 training session

The National Weather Service is offering the community an opportunity to become a weather spotter with free SKYWARN spotter training.

The Kane County Office of Emergency Management and Elgin Community College will offer the free training from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, in the college's Seigle Auditorium, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.

Amateur radio operators are especially invited due to their extensive radio communication and 24-hour operations.

Participants will be trained to observe and report severe weather.

Spotter training classes cover severe weather hazards including thunderstorms and tornadoes.

This includes the general structure and movement of severe thunderstorms, identification of important storm features, and safety concerns.

SKYWARN is a program sponsored by the National Weather Service. The program is made up of thousands of volunteers who attend regular training and then scan the skies of their communities identifying and reporting critical storm information.

These volunteers are trained by National Weather Service forecasters to be the eyes and ears of both the warning forecasters and the local public safety networks.

Although SKYWARN spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, the main responsibility of a spotter is to identify and describe severe local storms.

In the average year, 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes occur across the United States. These events threatened lives and property.

Since the program started in the 1970s, the information provided by these spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite and other data, has enabled the National Weather Service to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods.

To learn more about the weather spotter program, visit www.weather.gov/lot/spotter_talk.

The program will be offered again, this time in Aurora, from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, March 13, in the community room at the Aurora Police Department, 1200 E. Indian Trail. As space is limited to 90 participants, registration is required at aurora.seamlessdocs.com/f/k4HMEI