Handouts will not be available at the training, and the following brochures are now available only online: Basic Spotters' Field Guide (.pdf). For general storm safety information: Tornadoes, Thunderstorms and Lightning brochure (.pdf)

Skywarn Spotters are welcome and encouraged to attend class every year but are not required to do so. Monroe County has adopted a two year training cycle, and your Skywarn Spotter identification number is valid for two years from date of issue.

In conjunction with the National Weather Service (NWS), Emergency Management Division and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RACES), volunteer Skywarn Spotters and Winter Weather Spotters work diligently to provide information about the earliest signs of possible severe weather. Although the NWS has improved their ability to detect severe thunderstorms over the past twenty years, the human eye is one of the most valuable resources to local emergency management offices and the NWS.

Since April of 1965 the NWS, RACES, and local emergency management officials have worked together to train tens of thousands of Skywarn Spotters and Winter Weather Spotters. These individuals learn the characteristics of a storm system that could become severe and cause injury to person and/or property.

Public safety officials, RACES members, or concerned citizens who want to raise their level of awareness regarding severe weather should consider attending both the Skywarn Spotter and the Winter Weather Spotter training classes.