Spotter Training Resources ?
- Thread starter cammiec
- Start date
A List of Learning Resources
Tim Vasquez created post #87 in the "Where is Stormtrack really headed and what does it need?" thread. One of his thoughts for going forward was renaming the Beginner Forum to the Educational Forum and adding a FAQ List to that section. I would make an appeal to the general membership to...
stormtrack.org
I would recommend looking for Skip Talbot's and Daniel Shaw's videos on youtube. Skip tends to be more technical, educational and informative, where Dan's videos demonstrate practicality and communication during spotting.
The link @rdale posted has lots of good links, although some are outdated, and the list is long. If you are looking for a place to start, I would start with @Skip Talbot YouTube channel as Mark noted:
Then move to MetEd
www.meted.ucar.edu
Then move to MetEd
MetEd » Education & Training
MetEd: Teaching and Training Resources for the Geoscience Community
Don't forget this!
WEATHER FORECASTING / WEATHER EDUCATION ESSAYS
Weather forecasting and weather education essays
www.theweatherprediction.com
There are some training resources on weather.gov website. Go to the information tab, in the dropbox select "Skywarn Spotters" and click on "Find a class in your area". This will take you to a US map. From there you can click on your state and county. This will take you to the spotter resource page. There you will find training resources. I strongly recommend MetEd courses. They have a couple of courses geared toward storm spotting. There are also other courses worth checking out as well. Spotter Network has a comprehensive course that is a requirement if you wish to report on their site (spotternetwork.org). Also, may I also suggest reading "Storm Chasing Handbook" by Tim Vasquez. This book is available on his website. (weathergraphics.com). This book is geared towards chasers, but there is useful information in there for spotters as well. Hope this helps!
MetED has a lot of courses that you can take, depending on how in-depth you want to go. I'm taking several myself. If you just have 'basic' training, see if your NWS office offers Advanced training (essentially Meteorology 101 for spotters), again, depending on how in-depth you want to go.
NWS Paducah, KY offers Elite training, which is essentially the 'Meteorology 101' from Advanced training if you get it, but also places emphasis on mobile spotter safety and basic radar fundamentals; they also offer 'mini courses' on topics like radar fundamentals (going more in-depth on topics lightly covered in Elite training) and extreme tornado risks.
NWS Paducah, KY offers Elite training, which is essentially the 'Meteorology 101' from Advanced training if you get it, but also places emphasis on mobile spotter safety and basic radar fundamentals; they also offer 'mini courses' on topics like radar fundamentals (going more in-depth on topics lightly covered in Elite training) and extreme tornado risks.