Skywarn weather watchers can save lives

By Juan Alanis

We are now over halfway through the month of February. This means we will begin to have more and more warm weather. It is this warmer spring weather that harkens strong to severe thunderstorms for many parts of the nation, including Central and South Texas . It is the one season that true weather enthusiasts -- the storm and tornado chasers -- really look forward to as it is the season in which most tornadoes occur, and often the most violent weather.

I have not had the chance to chase a tornado, though I have seen a few from my backyard when I was living in north Austin . In Austin and in many areas north of there, severe storm season is serious. I remember one year that television stations in Austin gave out weather radios with tornado alarms. Many residents including myself have been to the training sessions to track these severe tornadic storms and how to prepare for and report them.

In fact, the National Weather Service (NWS) and many broadcast meteorologists strongly encourage all members of the general public to get the training to observe and report severe thunderstorms and tornadoes through a program known as Skywarn.

Skywarn is a nationwide network of volunteer severe weather “storm spotters.” This network was first started in the late 1960s by the National Weather Service to determine how the public can identify, evaluate, and report severe weather events. Today, the Skywarn program has grown into a network of 167,000 volunteers in 200 chapters nationwide, according to information from the Milwaukee ( Wisconsin ) Area Skywarn Association. While many members of Skywarn are amateur radio operators, it is not necessary to be one.

You may be wondering, how can the general public help meteorologists, who have fancy radar and other equipment, track severe thunderstorms and tornadoes?

“We have very sophisticated radars that tell us a lot, but even with the best radar, we do not know for sure if a tornado is on the ground,” said Jim Spencer, chief meteorologist at KXAN-TV in Austin . In the case of many radar systems, the beam can be several thousand feet above the surface, especially in areas where the nearest radar site is over a 100 miles away, as is the case here in Laredo.

Richard Berler, chief meteorologist at KGNS-TV, pointed out that since the nearest radars to Laredo are in Corpus Christi and Del Rio , the radar beam is 14,000 feet above us. The radar may detect a tornadic rotation at that level, but, he said, “We won't have a clue if there is rotation lower to the ground. Resolution on the radar is not as detailed when far from radars.”

This is where Skywarn Storm Spotters come into play. Skywarn observers are trained to identify tornadoes and/or cloud types and patterns that may indicate tornadic development, as well as report the direction the storm is traveling, plus wind speed, size of hail, and frequency of lightning, among other things. Spotters are the eyes on the ground for meteorologists. “They help confirm what radar sees,” said Meteorologist Troy Kimmel, manager of the Weather and Climate Resource Center at the University of Texas in Austin.

In many cases, it is the reports and observations from Skywarn spotters that leads the NWS to issue severe thunderstorm warnings and/or tornado warnings. These spotter observations and warnings can be crucial and can result in many lives saved. “There is no doubt in my mind that Skywarn spotter have saved lives,” Kimmel said.

In the case of Laredo or, say, Cotulla or Freer, where the landscape is largely rural ranch land, if a rancher is trained to spot storms and calls in a funnel cloud, a warning could be issued before it hits a more populated area, therefore giving residents time to take proper cover, resulting in lives saved. In some cases, with radar and the eyes of storm spotters, warnings have been issued up to 20 minutes ahead of time, though it is not always the norm. Sometimes tornadoes can strike with little warning, depending on the severity of the storm or if it is at night. In any case, the assistance of a storm spotter is always helpful. Dan McCarthy, warning coordination meteorologist at the NWS Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said, “Spotters verifying what a forecaster sees on radar can be very beneficial as the storm progresses.”

The NWS and broadcast meteorologists encourage all members of the general public to get trained as storm spotters. Skywarn training sessions will be held throughout the spring. Although the session in Laredo has already passed, additional sessions will be held in towns across the region. For a complete schedule of Skywarn training sessions log onto the NWS web site at www.srh.noaa.gov/crp (Corpus Christi office) or www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx (Austin/San Antonio office).

This story on storm spotter training is not a forecast of a wild springtime here in the Gateway City. It is not easy to predict what spring will bring. Although hurricane outlooks are issued each year, the Storm Prediction Center does not issue tornado or severe storm outlooks for each season or year. This is due to the fact that so many factors affect how, when, and where storms will form. “Since severe storms and their patterns can change daily, it is quite difficult to make weekly projections, let alone yearly ones,” McCarthy said.

Historically, however, Laredo is a pretty calm place to live. Laredo averages about 31 days per year with thunderstorms and only one day per year with hail, Berler said. And tornadoes -- officially, only one tornado has ever touched down in the Gateway City since 1900, and that occurred on April 28, 1905. That spring tornado did cause some damage and fatalities. Since that time, several funnel clouds have been reported, but have never touched down. The biggest weather threat here in Laredo is usually storms that bring high wind, lightning, and flooding. Many Laredoans may remember the storm in early June 2003 that brought hail and wind damage to several locations around town, including LIFE Downs, as well as the flooding along McPherson Road and Hwy. 359 from a couple of storms last fall.

Skywarn spotters are also very important during wind and rain events. Except for tornado rotations, a radar may not accurately measure wind speed in individual storm cells. Therefore, unless a storm spotter reports strong damaging wind, a meteorologist may not actually know it is occurring.

Many of you out there reading this may not picture yourself as a storm spotter; however, you can be. Maybe not a tornado chaser type of spotter, but calling in a flood or felled trees or power lines can be just as critical. Skywarn and the National Weather Service encourage everyone in the general public to attend Skywarn sessions and become better prepared, just in case this would be the year we get a big tornado. Tornadoes have struck in all 50 states; yes, even in Alaska!

(Juan Alanis, Jr., is an associate member of the American Meteorological Society and is currently employed as a teacher at Los Obispos Middle School.)