What is Skywarn™?
Skywarn™ is a National Weather Service (NWS) program of trained
volunteer severe weather spotters. Skywarn™ volunteers support
their local community and government by providing the NWS
with timely and accurate severe weather reports. These reports,
when integrated with modern NWS technology, are used to inform
communities of the proper actions to take as severe weather
threatens. The key focus of the Skywarn™ program is to save
lives and property through the use of the observations and
reports of trained volunteers.
Accurate and reliable information from the general
public is difficult to obtain. The NWS has found that only regular
training of weather spotters improves the quality of information.
The National Weather Service (NWS) collaborates with Amateur Radio
organizations and others to put together training programs. The
NWS brings its weather knowledge, the Amateur Radio Service brings
its expertise in emergency communications, and together they work
with local government and the Red Cross.
Skywarn™ volunteers donate thousands of hours and
the use of their own personal radio equipment and vehicles to
give their communities advanced warning of life threatening weather.
Since the NWS instituted the Skywarn™ Program, there has been a
significant decrease in the death rate due to tornadoes and other
severe weather.
So, you think the Pacific Northwest has NO
severe weather? Think Again!
...on the afternoon of April 5, 1972, an F3 (Fugita
damage scale) intensity tornado rips across parts of north
Portland and into Vancouver, Washington, killing 6 and injuring
over 300. The tornado takes out homes, businesses and even and
elementary school...
...on the afternoon of July 9, 1995, a supercell thunderstorm
with a top of over 50,000 feet pummels north central Oregon
with baseball-sized hail
and 70 mph winds. Sixteen people are injured with property damage
over $30 millions...
...in September 1996, two waterspouts develop near the Oregon
coast. One moves onshore as a tornado and rips through powerlines
and trees in Clatsop county...
...in October 1999, a tornado touches down
near Creswell, damaging several building in this small city
in northern Lane county...
Need we say more?
How
to become a Skywarn™ Weather Spotter
The National Weather Service welcomes volunteers with an interest
in severe weather spotting. The Skywarn™ program is totally voluntary.
You may never call our office with a weather event similar to
those listed in the severe
weather spotter's guide, but you may have the opportunity
to call several times a month depending on the weather pattern
in your neck-of-the-woods. If you agree, we may occasionally call
you for a "ground truth" as to what is actually happening near
your house. Most likely our phone call will be to confirm an element
of potentially severe thunderstorms, like large hail, or damaging
wind. Other calls may be to verify heavy snowfall or peak wind
speed associated with large winter storms.
Unfortunately, we can not sign-up every person
to the spotter program due to budget constraints and/or when we
have too many spotters in one location, like major cities along
Interstate 5. Our greatest need for weather spotters is in sparsely
populated areas in east county regions near the higher terrain
of the Cascade Foothills. This includes the Cascade regions of
Cowlitz and Skamania counties in Washington, and Clackamas, Marion,
and Linn counties in Oregon. Elevations near 1500 feet and higher
are especially useful.
If you would like to be a volunteer weather spotter
and you live in one of the following counties of Northwest Oregon
or Southwest Washington, send a written request to:
In Oregon:
Clatsop, Columbia, Multnomah, Hood River, Tillamook, Yamhill,
Clackamas, Marion, Polk, Lincoln, Benson, Linn, or Lane
In Washington:
Pacific, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Clark, or Skamania
Please, include your name, mailing
address, approximate elevation (if known), weather equipment
you own, and a telephone number with the hours you can be reached.
Skywarn™
Spotter's Guide
General guidelines have been established by the Portland NWS in
the severe
weather spotter's guide as significant weather events that
may affect lives and property. The spotter's guide is a reference
for volunteer weather spotters when certain weather events occur
that are of interest to the forecasters at the NWS. This guide
is not a complete listing...if you are not sure about your report,
please go ahead and call the toll-free telephone number provided
to you.
Another handy reference guide is our link to
Skywarn™
Scales which give you a quick look at hail size, wind speeds
based on the Beaufort Scale, and Fujita tornado damage scale.
Please refer to these tables, especially if you are estimating
wind speed.
Spotter News Updates and the Weather Spotlight
Future editions of Weather
Spotlight could very well be available only on our
home page. Mass mailings to a growing list of weather spotters
is costly and time-consuming, both decreasing commodities at the
NWS. Our plea to you is to take advantage of the internet by downloading
our spotter newsletter for each quarterly issue.
This way we can save money for other Skywarn™
issues, like severe weather training and supplying our spotters
with rain gages, by reducing the mailing cost of the newsletter.
Thanks for your help!
NOAA's National Weather Service
5241 NE 122nd Avenue
Portland, OR 97230
Phone: 503.326.2340
Weather Line: 503.261-9246, -9247
www.weather.gov 
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