National Weather Service Skywarn™ Training Returns to Dutchess County - County Executive News Release 5/1/2017

Poughkeepsie, NY….The Dutchess County Department of Emergency Response will host the National Weather Service on Thursday, May 11th from 7:00-9:00 p.m. as they conduct Skywarn™ training for any resident interested in becoming a weather spotter.  Skywarn™ is a nationwide network of volunteer weather spotters who report to and are trained by the National Weather Service (NWS). Spotters report many forms of significant or severe weather such as severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, heavy snow, and flooding. Training will be conducted at the Dutchess County Department of Emergency Response located at 392 Creek Road in the Town of Hyde Park. Pre-registration is required.

The staff at the NWS Forecast Office Albany are responsible for issuing local forecasts and severe weather warnings for much of eastern New York, southern Vermont, the Berkshires of western Massachusetts and Litchfield County, CT. Skywarn™ spotters provide an invaluable service by providing ground truth so the NWS can correlate what is seen on radar to what is actually occurring, help warn downstream communities, add value to the NWS statements and warnings, and verify forecasts and warnings. Spotters act as the eyes and ears helping to provide better services. This session will teach participants the basics of thunderstorm development, fundamentals of storm structure, identifying potential severe weather features, how to report information, and more.

Preregistration is required by visiting: http://cstar.cestm.albany.edu/skywarn/Talks.htm

For more information, visit the Skywarn™ program online at http://www.weather.gov/aly/skywarn or contact the Dutchess County Department of Emergency Response at (845) 486-2080.