ROSEVILLE, Ill. — The severe weather season is upon us, and the National Weather Service is expanding its network of storm spotters.
This spring, it's offering several different Skywarn spotter training classes throughout the Quad Cities area.
Trained Skywarn spotters provide real-time updates on weather conditions, such as hail size, wind speed, tornado development and local damage, to help warn the public. This information gets reported back to meteorologists at the National Weather Service, which then issues alerts, such as severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings.
Warning time is critical during severe weather.
During a training Tuesday night in Roseville, Illinois, attendees learned specifically what to report, how to report it and how to stay safe while doing so.
One of those in attendance was Darrell Page. He's the district chief for the RSP&E Fire Protection District in Roseville. He's been going to the trainings for the last 22 years.
"The big thing that they stress is safety," Page said. "Be in a safe position to be able to watch it so you don't get yourself hurt."
He said he's learned something new every year.
"Every year, you kind of think you got everything, but there's always things that you learn," Page said. "Some of the things they do is they show different videos of the most current tornadoes, and not just tornadoes, but straight-line winds, things like that."
He said he has witnessed the aftermath of severe weather, including a 1995 F-4 tornado in Raritan, Illinois. Page was with the Roseville Fire District at the time and spent several days there after it hit.
"It really opens up your eyes to the power that's out there with the tornadoes and everything," Page said. "It makes you really understand that Mother Nature's pretty strong."
The storm spotters help add a level of safety for their own community as well as others, he added. The Roseville firefighters are trained spotters.
"When we do have bad weather in an area, we do dispatch our fire trucks out and our volunteer firefighters," Page said. "We've got 39 firefighters in this district, so they're all activated to go out and spot. The training is what they can report back to the weather service to let them know that this is what we're seeing in our area, and maybe it's going to help on down the road for somebody else that's continued on that path."
Page's advice during severe weather was to pay attention and be aware of your surroundings. He also recommended the storm spotter trainings to everyone.
There are two more upcoming in-person trainings. One will be from 6:30-8:30 p.m. March 29 at Adventure Christian Church in Davenport. The other will be from 5:30-7:30 p.m. April 5 at the Moline Public Library.
Find information about what you should report to the National Weather Service and how to become a spotter by clicking here.