If you are a fan of tracking storms, following the forecast, and keeping up with the weather, then the National Weather Service (NWS) has the class for you.
On Thursday, May 14, at 6:30 P.M., NWS is hosting a virtual skywarn weather spotter class for anyone who wants to volunteer for tracking weather data in Idaho. The class covers how to track the data, the science behind certain weather events and you get to meet meteorologists who work with NWS.
WATCH: Learn more about the class
Nick Francis, meteorologist with NWS, says the weather spotters help the organization to track warnings.
These weather observers become a crucial part of "ground truth," which is the active weather happening in local neighborhoods.
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The National Weather Service can track very far distances, but only so close to the ground. Most of the information they receive is on the ground near their station or high up in the air, miles away.
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Having observers scattered throughout an area like the Treasure Valley helps capture the diversity that the area can see during major weather events.
Snow in Boise could be just rain in Nampa. Cloudy skies in Kuna could mean sunshine in Eagle, so having more weather spotters makes the data collection that much easier.
"It’s so localized, you know, one street over, you might be getting something different than the next street,” Francis said.
“It’s really great to have that network," Francis added, "We have around 100 spotters here in Ada County, and it’s great, and I’d say bring as many as we can, you know."
