A weather spotter is any individual who observes weather for the purpose of reporting his or her observations to a larger weather group or organization. Examples include National Weather service co-op observers and Skywarn storm spotters.

Storm spotters

A storm spotter

Storm spotter

A storm spotter is a specific type of weather spotter who actively maintains a visual watch of the development and progression of specific weather events while actively relaying important information to the local weather agency in a timely manner.- History :...

 is a specific type of type of weather spotter. These volunteers are usually trained by the National Weather Service

National Weather Service

The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...

 or local Skywarn

Skywarn

SKYWARN is a program of the United States' National Weather Service . Its mission is to collect reports of localized severe weather. These reports are used to aid forecasters in issuing and verifying severe weather watches and warnings and to improve the forecasting and warning processes and the...

 group, and are given a phone number or amateur radio

Amateur radio

Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...

 frequency

Frequency

Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...

 to report to if a severe weather

Severe weather

Severe weather phenomena are weather conditions that are hazardous to human life and property.- Examples Include :Severe weather can occur under a variety of situations, but three characteristics are generally needed: a temperature or moisture boundary, moisture, and , instability in the...

 event, such as a tornado

Tornado

A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...

, severe thunderstorm, or flash flood

Flash flood

A flash flood is a rapid flooding of geomorphic low-lying areas—washes, rivers, dry lakes and basins. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a storm, hurricane, or tropical storm or meltwater from ice or snow flowing over ice sheets or snowfields...

 occurs where the spotter is located.

National Weather Service coop observers

The National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) is a network of 11,000 volunteers that record official weather observations across the United States. Data is taken from a multitude of geographic regions and topography, and sent to the National Weather Service and National Climatic Data Center

National Climatic Data Center

The United States National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina is the world's largest active archive of weather data. The center became established in late 1951, with the move into the new facility occurring in early 1952....

 for official records.

In making these reports, spotters use a specialized set of jargon

Jargon

Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, group, or event. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he...

 and slang

Slang

Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...

 to describe their observations.

Media weather spotters

Since New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 experiences harsh winters, several regional television stations use weather spotters for up-to-date snowfall amounts and reports. WHDH-TV

WHDH-TV

WHDH, digital channel 42 , is an NBC-affiliated television station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest NBC station not owned by the network. Owned by Sunbeam Television, WHDH is a sister station to CW affiliate WLVI...

's network, launched by former meteorologist Todd Gross

Todd Gross

Todd Gross is a meteorologist. Todd currently is back in Massachusetts doing voice overs and video on the web. Todd's also doing the weather for snow contractors and providing updates on his website www.toddgross.com He was an active on-air television and radio meteorologist at KTVX ABC4 in Salt...

, is the largest in New England with close to 300 spotters. The former name of the group was "WHDHwx - The 7NEWS Weather Spotter Group." In December 2005, the group's name was switched to "NEWeather - Todd Gross' Weather Spotter Network", in light of Todd Gross' departure with Channel 7.

WZMY-TV

WZMY-TV

WBIN-TV is an independent station licensed to Derry, New Hampshire and serving the Boston market. Its transmitter is located on Merrill Hill in Hudson, New Hampshire. Owned by Carlisle One Media, the station has studios on A Street in Derry...

's (formerly WNDS) meteorologist Al Kaprielian started his weather watcher group in 1986, when WNDS-TV first went on the air. Kaprielian features one weather watcher per night on "my TV Prime," with their name, town, and current temperature on the map.

Other Boston-area stations with weather spotter networks include WBZ-TV

WBZ-TV

WBZ-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station, located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WBZ-TV's studios and office facilities, shared with sister station WSBK-TV , are located in the Allston-Brighton section of Boston, and its transmitter is located in Needham,...

, WCVB-TV

WCVB-TV

WCVB-TV, channel 5, is a television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Hearst Television and affiliated with the ABC Television Network. WCVB-TV's studios and transmitter are co-located in Needham, Massachusetts. WCVB is also one of six Boston television stations seen in Canada by...

, and WMUR-TV

WMUR-TV

WMUR-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the state of New Hampshire that is licensed to Manchester. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter on the south peak of Mount Uncanoonuc in Goffstown. Owned by Hearst Television, the station has studios...

 in Manchester, New Hampshire

Manchester, New Hampshire

Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...

.

Media weather spotters are also extensive in the midwest, though they also report severe warm weather, such as large hail. WFIE

WFIE

WFIE is the NBC-afifliated television station for the Tri-State area of Southwestern Indiana, Northwestern Kentucky and Southeastern Illinois that's licensed to Evansville, Indiana. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 46 from a transmitter in the Wolf Hills section of...

 in Evansville, IN,for example, has a massive network of over 100 spotters.

External links

• National Weather Service coop program