Weather spotters on the lookout

WINSTED — With freezing cold, wind, sleet and snow just around the corner, local weather bugs are gearing up to do their part to help the National Weather Service monitor and track severe weather throughout the region this winter.

Dozen of residents throughout the Northwest Corner — including Winsted — are part of the service’s SKYWARN program, a large national corps of trained volunteers who provide critical local data regarding severe weather events.

Although the program is open to anyone with an interest in weather, the NWS particularly encourages police and fire personnel, dispatchers, EMS workers, public utility workers and others with access to communication, such as a HAM radio.

The program also receives information from local television stations.

Although the spotters provide important information for all types of weather hazards, their main responsibility is to identify and describe severe local storms.

For more than 30 years, the information provided by the volunteers, coupled with advances in radar and satellite technology, has helped the NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods.

To keep its volunteers up to date, the program holds free regional spotter training sessions throughout the year. The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Albany held an advanced training class for local SKYWARN members at Town Hall Monday, Nov. 2.

The workshop, led by meteorologist Steve DiRienzo, provided an overview of the different types of severe weather the area experiences in winter, as well as how spotters should properly measure and record  sleet, freezing rain and snowfall amounts during and just after a storm.

According to weather service data collected over the years — including that from SKYWARN members — the Northwest Corner averages more than 50 inches of snowfall each year.

“Berkshire and Litchfield counties are part of a severe weather hot spot, which also includes the Hudson Valley,†DiRienzo said, adding that the warmer, moist air moving up along the Hudson Valley will often clash into the cooler, dryer air moving down into the area from Canada.

“That, along with the unique terrain here, leads to severe weather,†he said.

During the winter weather months, spotters will report information regarding ice jams and flooding, snowfall, freezing rain and drizzle, and damaging winds to the NWS.

Volunteers can call their data in or use the weather service’s online SKYWARN reporting system.

“There’s nothing more important than ground truth infomation,†DiRienzo said.

This winter, forecasters are predicting a cooler than average season.

DiRienzo said a colder winter is expected because of decreased activity on the sun, as well as the large amount of ash that remains in the atmosphere after two volcanoes recently erupted. Both events lead to less solar warming.

“Our snowfall should be about normal, though,†he added.

But whatever this winter’s weather brings, local SKYWARN members will be keeping a watchful eye on the region’s skies.

“Spotter reports are important,†he said. “We use them all.â€

For more information or to find out when the next SKYWARN class will be conducted in the area, contact the region’s local Warning Coordination Meteorologist at stormready.noaa.gov/contact.htm.