Want To Be Trained As A Skywatcher?
Our annual storm spotter training, Storm Alert Xtreme, is coming to the BJCC this Saturday, November 12!
Our associate Brian Peters, who has trained over 6,000 Alabama storm spotters during his days with the National Weather Service, will be doing the training as usual. We ask all existing Skywatchers to attend for their annual “re-training”, and anyone that wants to join the team needs to attend as well.
This is totally free, and there is no need to register. We are aware that with the generational tornado outbreak of April 27, we figure we will easily top our record crowd last year, but we will make room for everyone. And, a special thanks to the Birmingham Automobile Dealers Association, who will allow you free entrance into the Alabama International Auto Show after our training (it is going on at the same time at the BJCC).
Chris Novy from Oklahoma City will be in town for a special session on spotter safety. We promise the best training session in the nation… it will run from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
Be sure and pass the word around… we only do this one a year. See you Saturday November 12 at the BJCC!
Comments
Category: Hodgepodge
any chance that there will be a training that does not take place on Saturday. I am a Sabbath observant Jew and will never be able to attend training on that day.
We will post the video of this year’s training online…
That’s fantastic!! I plan to go to this event every year, and something pressing ALWAYS comes up. Thanks!
Thanks that’s Great!
I have decided to get back into EMA after a fifteen year absence. For fourteen years prior to my self imposed retirement I had served as a Coordinator for a community of 20,000 people and the deputy coordinator (and radiological officer) for a county that has the highest concentration of nuclear power plants in the midwest.
In my time I had managed a 30 member volunteer EMA organization (I was paid part time) and sent out spotters on numerous occasions. Having seen wall clouds, funnels, tornadoes on the ground and the after effects of an F5 (that killed 34 people) I still have a fascination for the raw power of weather unleashed. I will be attending the spotter training in Nov and since I stopped being a “professional” radio operator I earned my extra class amateur radio license. Now I am a VE (volunteer examiner) and want to get back into it.
I was sort of disappointed in the 2 meter traffic and net control during our outbreak this spring. I fought the urge to start up a net-control and just watched pieces of Tuscaloosa fall out of the sky over Etowah county (I was 2 miles north of the path when the tornado skipped through our county a few hours later).
I have a list of FEMA qualifications (enough to paper an outhouse) but do not want to come into an established system to present my “yankee ways” or the two months of training completed up in Emmetsburg MD. Those days are past me and I would rather be running a net control station and pushing traffic across an APRS or packet network (live on a mountain, great RF view for 50-60 miles in all directions). My health no longer allows me to be working as a paramedic, ERT (rescue tech) or as a first responder.
I am interested in how much emcomm traffic is done by APRS or packet. I have even considered putting in my own microwave links for weather data collection (I am an RF engineer by vocation). Our little hole in Etowah county is sometimes overlooked… BTW, my dig about Etowah county not being covered by weather after the Birmingham/ Tuscaloosa severe weather was not personally directed at WO4W (but thanks for commenting on it later that evening).
Hope to see you in Birmingham.
Ms. Tisha Hayes, AA4HA
I am so excited. This is the first year we don’t have something scheduled during it. I went through training last year at the local Skywarn session, but I’ve always wanted to Storm Alert. Look forward to seeing everyone there!
Do you have to be at 18 or older to do this? My son is 13 and is obsessed with weather and would love this!
Your son is welcome to come… no age limits!
It was mentioned that you would post a video of this year’s training event. Is that about the attendance or the subject matter presented? If it is about the training session itself, can you provide me with a link? I am a storm spotter in TX and would like to see your video. Can’t ever get enough training and I trained under SkyWarn. Thank you.
Linda… we will have a link to the live stream of Storm Alert Xtreme here on the blog…
Do you have to be in the CWA of Birmingham or are people outside allowed?
You do NOT have to be in the dma. We have had folks from other states at prior classes.
Will the advanced spotter class be offered?
Yes. It is the second half of program… after lunch.
My husband and I are planning to attend and we are really looking forward to it. The BJCC is a big place. Any suggestions for where to park and where we our “classroom” will be?
@ Bamamuffin. I was wondering the same thing.
Good stuff, I wish they made it required in school for kids to take a storm spotting class but this is good too.
I wish I could attend, but since I can’t make it, thanks for posting it online. Any chance this group will be providing a training session in the Atlanta area?
me and the wife will be there can not wait!
Hi,
This will be our first year attending, and I was curious about the luncheon arrangements. Will there be a lunch break, and should we bring a lunch or are there restaurants on site?
@Natalie – Lunch break between the Basic and Advanced training sessions. There are food vendors at the auto show (expensive) and a Subway across from the BJCC. Personally, I’ve brought my lunch the past couple of years.
Thanks, LBG!