CSC hosts Weather Spotter Training
Audience members from as far as Omaha gathered at 10 a.m. in the Lakota/Ponderosa room for the National Weather Service’s Weather Spotter Training, Tuesday.
Meterologists Jared Allen, Mike Jamski and Matthew Brothers from the National Weather Service in Cheyenne, Wyoming, made the trek to CSC to talk to the audience “person-to-person” in order to prepare a “weather-ready nation.” The trio covered topics such as prediction models, severe thunderstorm cycles and tornadoes, giving the audience a full picture of what to watch for when spotting. Spotters are especially needed in the Chadron area, where, according to Allen, the nearest radar location is in Rapid City, leaving a blind spot at Cheyenne’s Weather Service station. Because of this, first-hand reports from spotters are “still critical” to accurately track weather.
“We can only tell so much from a radar,” Allen said.
Allen, Jamski and Brothers discussed the differences between wall clouds and shelf clouds as well as a thunderstorm’s life cycle, detailing what ingredients it takes to get severe storms common to the plains.
“When you combine instability, moisture, and then you combine wind shear, you get interesting storms,” Allen said.
The three also elaborated on supercells and tornadoes, noting that Dawes County has had 28 recorded tornado days from 1950-2014. The largest tornado was deemed an F2, meaning the storm caused “considerable damage” with winds of up to 111-157 miles per hour, but no tornado deaths or injuries have been recorded.
To report to the National Weather Service, spotters should give a location, start and end time of the event, and provide frequent updates. Spotters should never assume NWS is aware of the effects, even if a warning is in effect.
Because of the variety of weather seen in northwest Nebraska, Allen emphasized the importance of reporting what is seen regardless of severity.
“If you guys are reporting something to us something interesting, even if it might be nothing, give us a call,” Allen said.