Elite Storm Spotter Training

[Shawn Gossman]

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=pah&storyid=49677&source=0

Has anyone taken this yet? I am wondering what it consists of. Is it a new thing or has it been around for a while?

 

[Joe Dorn]

Shawn...

I don't know if this is the equivalent but the Fort Worth office puts on a 'basic' session in each of its counties yearly. An additional 'advanced' session is added in some of the major counties. The advanced sessions are always on Saturday and last for about 7 hours (basic in the morning and advanced in the afternoon).

In addition the TESSA session is an all day event held in Colleyville, Texas and allows you to boast of being a 'Super Spotter'. It is billed as a 'National' conference but most of the attendees are from Texas and Oklahoma. The primary sponsors are in the DFW area including the NWO in Fort Worth.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

We had our local basic and advanced spotter class earlier a few months ago, now they call them Skywarn Spotter concepts 1 & 2. But this Elite thing is new to me, I am just wondering what more it teaches...

 

[Steve Peeples]

At this point the Elite Spotter Workshop is unique to WFO Paducah. Hopefully it will catch on at other NWS offices across the country. It was well worth the 3.5 hours we spent the other night. Shanklin and Spoden gave an excellent presentation. It is more in-depth than the Concepts 1 & 2, has classroom exercises, and also covers spotter safety and basic WSD. The majority of attendees were EMA, law enforcement, and serious spotters. Knowing there is actually a test you must pass at the end of the class serves two purposes. It weeds out the "just something to do" crowd and it causes those attending to pay attention which leads to information retention once the class is over.

 

[Chip Redmond]

I am definitely a fan of the test at the end of a spotter training. It should iron out a reliable report from just the basic and often still not as knowledgeable as they should be spotters. I hope this spreads to other NWS offices also as it is a great concept! I would be curious also as to what is included in the test and just how difficult it is.

Chip

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I took this class. There was a lot of meteorology basic training in it with talking of RFD, CAP and CAPE type stuff, more safety stuff and radar concepts and reading intros. It was a great learning experience, the exam was pretty simple too if you paid attention.

They gave a flyer out with a whole bunch of spotter resource sites, StormTrack forum was one of them listed

 

[Chris Campbell]

KDMX put on an advanced spotter training class at Iowa State University this year. Primarily aimed at meteorology students but open to the public.

 

[J Tyler]

I went to the basic and advanced Skywarn classes in Denton TX this last spring. The advanced was -mainly- about the 88d doppler radar system. Making sure you know the strong points and weak points of the doppler radar systems. What it does well, and what it has a hard time with. I have found the info they gave us to be very helpful in the field.