Volunteer storm spotters are a crucial part of the severe weather warning process. Long time readers here know my concern over the high false alarm ratio on severe weather warnings, and there is no doubt the better ground truth we have, the greater the chance we can reduce the number of bad warnings.

Radar is an amazing tool that has saved countless lives over the years, but that beam travels in a straight line, and gets higher and higher off the ground as the beam travels away from the radar antenna. Often warnings are issued (or not issued!) based on data from a radar beam that is almost 10,000 feet off the ground.

In response for the need to see what goes on under the radar beam, ABC 33/40 has installed a SKYCAM network, featuring live video and weather data from sites all across the state, including smaller communities that don’t have “official” observations on a regular basis. We also have developed a team of “Skywatchers” that report back to us in real time using Instant Message technology during times of active weather. We currently have over 100 Skywatchers, and hope to have 500 in place by the spring tornado season. Of course, we welcome Skywatchers from any part of the state, but we are especially interested in getting them online with us in rural areas.

To join our Skywatcher network, we do ask that you have some SKYWARN training so we won’t have to worry about the accuracy of the reports. If you want to join the team, or simply learn how to spot severe weather, you need to be at the BJCC this Saturday for our annual Storm Alert XTREME event. We hold this special training only once per year, so this is a golden opportunity to learn more about severe weather and our Skywatcher program. We begin at 9:30 Saturday morning at the BJCC; there is no cost and you even get free admission to the 2007 Alabama International Auto Show which also is going on this weekend at the BJCC. Even if you have received SKYWARN training in the past, this will be a great refresher course with our own Brian Peters, who has trained over 6,000 Alabama SKYWARN spotters over the years. Get the full schedule and details on Storm Alert XTREME here. See you Saturday!