Professional storm chasers with the National Weather Service will offer a course to locals about how to become a storm spotter.
The course is called ‘Skywarn’. The two-and-a-half hour class will be offered in Northwest Arkansas, River Valley and Oklahoma locations.
Upcoming courses in our area include 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27 in Poteau at the Kiamichi Technology Center; 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 1 in Sallisaw at the EOC, 108 Chickasaw; 6 p.m. Monday, March 12 at the EOC, 8400 Zero St., 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 1 at the Walmart Auditorium at Northwest Arkansas Community College, and 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 27 at the training room at the University of Arkansas Police Department.
Everyone is welcome to attend.
The training is free and will teach participants basics of thunderstorm development and storm structure. They will also be taught about how and where to report storm information.
Participants will learn the ropes of becoming weather spotters, which is perhaps fitting with tornado season around the corner.
“What we need is… when we’re not out in the field we can what the radar is indicating… there may be radar indicated circulation, but there may not be any circulation out in the field or on the ground. So we need those strom spotters to help confirm what it is we’re seeing, in addition to they may see something that’s not showing up on radar,” Bryan Austin with the Siloam Springs Police Department said.
