National Weather Service Forecast Office

Spotter Information & Preparedness

Help save lives and property! Become a severe weather spotter for the National Weather Service. If you are interested in having a class in your area, please contact Jerry Orchanian. Following is the current class schedule. In the meantime, check out our spotter tutorial online.

Take and pass the Online Spotter Quiz and receive your Spotter Card. Once you pass the quiz, a Spotter Card will be displayed with your name. You will have to print this out if you want to have a spotter card.

*2008 SKYWARN Spotter Training Schedule*
*Check out our online spotter tutorial!*
6:00 PM, Mon. May 19, Dickson, TN at the Rennaissance Center on Highway 46, Room 223. This will be a basic class. 6:30 PM, Tue. May 20, McMinnville, TN at the Lucky Community Center. This will be a basic class. Thu. June 12, 630 PM, Shelbyville, TN at the Emergency Management facility located at 1304 Railroad Rd. 7:00 PM, Mon. July 7, in La Vergne, TN at Fire Hall #3 located at 301 Bill Stewart Blvd. Call (615)-504-4066 to pre-register for this class. All SKYWARN classes are basic and advanced and will last about 3 hours unless otherwise specified. All classes will give an introduction to CocoRahs (The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network).
Check back frequently for changes or additional classes!
*Note:* Occasionally training sessions may be postponed or cancelled with little notice due to weather or staffing concerns.

*Severe Weather*
Frequently Asked Questions about Tornadoes Fujita/ Tornado Intensity Scale Tornado Safety Rules Bad Choice!! Highway Overpasses as Tornado Shelters Lightning Safety Lightning and Thunderstorm Safety Rules Additional Links StormReady / [PDF~570K] Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, Lightning [PDF~1.7 meg] On-Line Spotters Guide for Identifying and Reporting Local Severe Storms Owlie SKYWARN Weather Safefy for Kids

*Spotter Guides*
Spotter's Field Guides* Basic ~500K Advanced ~3.3M Storm Spotter's Guide --> from NWS Norman OK Storm Spotter's Guide --> from Univ of IL Urbana-Champaign Glossary of Severe Weather Terms *In Adobe PDF format, a free download.

*Flooding and Flash Flooding*
Flash Flooding Definition Flash Floods and Flooding - Awesome Power [PDF~1M] Low Water Crossing - Hidden Danger [PDF~700K] Flood Safety Rules Flash Flood Safety Rules

*Winter Weather*
Winter Storms, The Deceptive Killer - A Guide To Survial Winter Weather Preparedness

*Tropical Weather and Hurricanes*
Hurricane Basics Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale Hurricane Names National Hurricane Center Hurricane Tracking Chart [PDF~1.7M] Hurricance Safety Rules

*Summer Heat and Droughts*
Heatwave Information Heat Index Drought Information Palmer Drought Index Keetch-Byram Index United States Drought Assessment Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin

Your National Weather Service is always looking for interesting weather pictures from middle Tennessee. This can include severe weather phenomena, winter weather shots, flooding, lightning, beautiful sunrise/sunsets, strange cloud formations, etc. Please provide the location and date of the shot. Send pictures to:

Mark Rose
500 Weather Station Rd.
Old Hickory, TN 37138