Curious Iowa: Tornado season has arrived. How do you become a storm spotter?

The spring severe weather season had a devastating start in Western and Central Iowa. Multiple tornadoes sprung up throughout the state in mid- and late-April, bringing hail and flash flooding with them. Homes and businesses were flattened and power was knocked out. The most severe tornado tore through Minden in Pottawattamie County and took the life of one man.

Linda Schreiber of Iowa City wrote to Curious Iowa — a Gazette series that answers readers’ questions about our state, its people and culture — asking how to become a trained weather spotter. In an email to The Gazette, Schreiber said, “I am fascinated by storm chasers and how … they learn to stay safe on the road reporting timely information to keep everyone safe.”

We spoke with the National Weather Service Quad Cities bureau about the SKYWARN storm spotter training program and why on-the-ground reporting is critical.

What training do you need to become a spotter?

More than a decade ago, Jared Davis, of Marion, went to his first spotter training class. Davis told The Gazette that since early childhood, he has had an interest in storms. Now, he’s a part of SKYWARN, a NWS program made up thousands of volunteers who provide on-the-ground reports during severe weather.

Storm spotters act as the eyes and ears for the NWS, reporting information like hail size and damage, dense fog, funnel clouds and flash flooding. Those reports inform the response of the NWS and its partners, like county emergency management agencies.

Recently, Davis’ 14-year-old daughter joined him at a training class, described as “appropriate for all ages” although “ages 10 and up will likely get the most out of the training.” While the NWS recommends attending a training every two to three years, Davis attends annually.

“It’s really very approachable.” he said.

While Davis held a curiosity about weather prior to becoming a spotter, he said training has benefits for those with weather anxiety.

“Going there and understanding what is truly a threat and what’s just a scary looking cloud … has helped some folks as well,” Davis said.

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NWS Quad Cities Warning Coordination Meteorologist Rich Kinney said the free training sessions cover how to communicate with the NWS and what spotters might see out in the field — using examples from past Iowa weather. Safety is priority number one.

“This year, we trained about 1,700 people in our area and that includes 36 counties,” Kinney said. “We have 21 counties in Eastern Iowa and then 13 in Northwest Illinois and two in Northeast Missouri.”

There are around 4,000 total spotters in the NWS Quad Cities service area. Their spotter database shows where each spotter is located and if they are up-to-date on their training.

“They help us provide potentially lifesaving information, so they are doing a great public service,” Kinney said.

The National Weather Service is a federal agency, making it taxpayer funded. The SKYWARN program, established in the 1970s, is a part of the weather service’s regular operations.

Kinney said, “Roughly the expense per citizen is about $5 per year for what it takes to keep everything going in the weather service and provide all the forecasts and warning services.”

There are five NWS offices that cover the state of Iowa. Depending on the county you live in, your office may be in the Quad Cities, Des Moines, Sioux Falls, SD; Omaha, NE; or La Crosse, WI.

Do storm spotters chase severe weather?

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There’s a difference between storm spotters and chasers. Kinney said the primary goal of storm spotting is public safety. Spotters observe weather and report to the NWS or another agency. A majority of spotters are stationary. That means spotters can report what they see out their window, damage found in their backyard or what they observe while on the job.

“You may be a volunteer firefighter and report that back to the fire station or the sheriff’s department,” Kinney said.

Storm chasers, however, are focused on photographing or filming storms.

“Now, we do have a number of spotters that choose to be mobile spotters,” Kinney said. “so they’re sort of a hybrid … They’re mobile in their vehicle driving around but their essential role is public safety.”

Davis chooses to move with storms.

“Moving with the storm allows you to see it develop and form,” Davis said. “Storms go through different phases and being able to understand … what phase the storm is currently in I think is valuable.”

Kinney said that while computer technology improves the service’s tools, ground truth reporting “is always going to be vital.”

“We’re never going to get rid of that human element.”

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How does the National Weather Service decide to issue warnings?

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Kinney said the “three legs of the stool” for issuing weather warnings are radar, the environment and ground truth information.

Radar and satellite data helps meteorologists identify when a storm is forming. Radar equipment provides information like wind direction, temperature, humidity and pressure.

“We use different radar products including velocity data, which gives us an idea of how winds are flowing within a storm,” Kinney said. “So we can see a broader scale rotation in the storm, which can be a precursor to tornadoes. This isn’t the scale of the tornado itself but a much broader scale within what’s called a super cell thunderstorm.”

Kinney said the environmental information considers questions like “Is it really warm and humid?” or “Is there a cold front coming through?”. Weather balloons can be launched to see what’s going on in the atmosphere around the office.

Finally, ground truth information comes from storm spotters.

“We like to have two of those three favorable factors before we go ahead and issue a warning,” Kinney said. “So, we have a lot of good tools but ground truth information is always going to be needed from our spotters.”

What happens when severe weather hits a National Weather Service office?

On April 16, Kinney said a potential tornado moved in the direction of the Quad Cities office. Despite staff seeking shelter for about 20 minutes, the public received alerts because the Des Moines office provided backup.

“We have a backup plan in place with multiple offices that can take over warning notice responsibilities for us at a moment’s notice,” Kinney said.

NWS offices have plans in place for different impact levels of severe weather.

“So when we’re expecting, for example, a tornado outbreak type of day, we will have 10-plus people in our operations area, all in well-defined roles,” Kinney said.

Some will take incoming calls from spotters. Others will make outbound calls to spotters to retrieve information.

“All of that information is funneled to the radar meteorologist and that contributes to their warning decisions and warning updates throughout the event.”

The NWS encourages everyone to have a severe weather plan in place including multiple ways to receive warning information.

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Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com