About Us
The effects of severe weather are felt every year by many Americans.
To obtain critical weather information, NOAA's National Weather Service
(NWS), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, established SKYWARN®
with partner organizations. SKYWARN® is a volunteer program with nearly
290,000 trained severe weather spotters. These volunteers help keep
their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of
severe weather to the National Weather Service.
Although SKYWARN® spotters provide essential information for all types
of weather hazards, the main responsibility of a SKYWARN® spotter is to
identify and describe severe local storms. In the average year, 10,000
severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes occur
across the United States. These events threatened lives and property.
Since the program started in the 1970s, the information provided by
SKYWARN® spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved
satellite and other data, has enabled NWS to issue more timely and
accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods.
SKYWARN® storm spotters are part of the ranks of citizens who form the
Nation's first line of defense against severe weather. There can be no
finer reward than to know that their efforts have given communities the
precious gift of time--seconds and minutes that can help save lives.