National Weather Service trains local spotters

Kelly Hooper of the Paducah, Ky., office of the National Weather Service taught about 40 volunteers how to be effective spotters for the NWS.

The class was held at Southeastern Illinois College at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

With the proliferation of better and better cell phones, spotters are taking to the road when conditions for tornadoes become ideal.

This is an ideal situation for needless injury and the class dealt with proper behavior for mobile spotters.

The first recommendation is never go it alone. Have a driver and a spotter in the vehicle. One person watching the road at all times is absolutely necessary.

At the beginning of the brochure on mobile spotting the Weather Service states that no report is preferable to a report and an injury. They recommend putting safety first.

Behavior common to mobile spotters includes:

n Driving with less than 100 percent attention to the road.

n Driving above the speed limit.

n Driving down flooded or hail covered road.

n Making sudden stops and starts without warning.

n Driving in low visibility from intense downpours and gusty wind.

n Exposing themselves to lighting danger.

The NWS said that lightning often strikes 10 miles away from a severe storm. More than 50 percent of lightning deaths occur after the storm has passed. Avoid at all costs being the tallest object in the area and avoid staining near tall towers, power poles and trees.

The NWS said that there are more than 14.6 million severe thunderstorms each year worldwide. A storm is considered severe if winds exceed 58 mph or hail grows to 1/4 inch in diameter or larger. These severe storms can produce winds in excess of 100 mph.

NOAA Weather radios were recommended to all and the weather service stated that it hoped that the units, available where electronics are sold, will soon be in every home, like smoke detectors.

Saline County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Allan Ninness said he was pleased with a turnout of 35 to 40 students.

"In the past we have had up to 100," Ninness said.

"Our area is well represented."

One important job of spotters is verifying conditions implied by radar data.

"For the Weather Service which monitors the radar during the storms, the spotters are what they call 'ground truth.' The spotters that are protecting Harrisburg are often one county away. Spotters who can see the tornado before it hits Harrisburg are not in Harrisburg. So we protect others and others protect us."