Like a lot of meteorologists, Nick Petro’s fascination with the weather began early in his childhood.
Today, as the warning coordination meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Raleigh office, he’s readying himself for a trip to Fayetteville to meet with other weather enthusiasts to teach them the skill of storm spotting.
His primary audience shares another of his enthusiasms: amateur radio. Like the members of the Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society, which organized the training session, Petro is a ham radio operator.
The free training program Petro will lead, set for 7 p.m. on Monday, May 20, is Skywarn, a national network utilizing NWS-trained volunteers to provide on-the-ground spotter reports during periods of extreme weather, particularly severe thunderstorms.
“It’s really all about reporting ground truth when it comes to severe weather — the ground truth, what people are experiencing, back to the National Weather Service,” Petro told CityView. “When we issue our warnings, we’re making a lot of assumptions based on radar, and radar tells us what’s happening in the sky. People will tell us what’s happening on the ground.”
The training program teaches a variety of skills, including understanding how severe storms develop and evolve and providing insight into advancements in NWS’s technology. Based on unique radar signatures, enhanced tech helps the weather pros provide differentiation between weather phenomena such as hail, rain, and tornadoes. But it’s not quite a substitute for eyewitnesses.
The NWS partners with many local ham radio clubs and groups, according to Petro.
“I’m an amateur radio operator myself and, you know, have been for quite some time,” he said. “In fact, I’ve never known an amateur radio operator who was not a weather enthusiast. So the two go hand in hand. Of our 3,000 weather spotters that we have here in central North Carolina alone, probably about 1,000 of them are ham radio operators.”
In the 90-minute class, Petro will teach about topics such as how to discern between funnel clouds and tornadoes, and about the definition of severe storms.
“You know, what makes an ordinary storm different than a severe storm?” he said. “What are the criteria? So if you see a tree down, if you see hail of a certain size … if you’re traveling and you see roads that are flooded or impassable or barricaded … what exactly is it that we want to be alerted about? What is it that we want to get a phone call about? Those are some of the things that we teach in the class.”
Spotters complement weather warning programs by verifying through radar data what NWS meteorologists anticipate will happen. Many Skywarn spotters are affiliated with organizations within communities, such as clubs like the Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society.
Rod MacLean, the vice president of CFARS, said the effort to partner with the National Weather Service reflects the club’s motto — “Volunteers for Emergency Communication” — and allows it to become a Skywarn Club.
“One of the problems in providing assistance in an emergency today is the bureaucratic requirements required,” he said. “By becoming a Skywarn Club, all we need is for our club members to be registered Skywarn observers, and to train on our net how to view, record and transmit Skywarn data.”
CFARS members’ advantage is using ham radio equipment, including club repeaters — devices that help boost or retransmit poor signals — already in place.
“The members of the club decided that this is the best way for us to go ahead and keep our motto alive,” MacLean said. “By becoming a Skywarn Club, we not only meet our own motto but provide Cumberland County a voice in Skywarn, too.”
The need is real. The U.S. sees about 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes in any given year. Trained Skywarn volunteers devote thousands of hours — using their personal vehicles and radio equipment — to give the communities in which they live a tangible heads-up when bad weather bears down.
Case in point: Skywarn spotters were active during the severe outbreak in late April that produced more than 100 tornadoes across the midwest. On April 26, the severe weather led the NWS’s office in Omaha, Nebraska, to issue 48 tornado warnings — the most the office has ever issued in a single day. When bad weather comes in waves, trained volunteer spotters can confirm what NWS meteorologists see indicated on radar and enhance the accuracy of warnings.
The NWS attributes a significant decrease in the death rate from tornadoes and other severe weather to the Skywarn program’s civilian volunteers and the work they do before severe weather strikes, during storms, and after the skies clear. About 400,000 severe weather spotters have been trained so far, many through ham radio clubs.
Petro emphasized that Skywarn is rooted in safety — for those in the path of severe weather, but also for the volunteer spotters. Spotters aren’t storm chasers, and they’re expected expressly not to put themselves in harm’s way.
“We’re not teaching people to chase storms,” he said. “This isn’t a storm-chasing program. Rather, we teach people how to stay safe. When severe weather strikes, seek shelter first, and then when the storm is over, if there was any damage near or at your location, we just simply ask you to call the National Weather Service and report it to us. Kind of in a nutshell, that’s what Skywarn is all about.
An ideal spotter, Petro said, is “anyone with an interest in weather.” But NWS also trains law enforcement officials and first responders.
“But quite honestly, anybody with an interest in weather is the kind of person who would think about the role of a Skywarn spotter,” he said.
Monday’s 90-minute training is geared toward CFARS members, but there’s limited space for guests. To make a reservation, call Rod MacLean at 910-977-0248; the training begins at 7 p.m. at Peace Presbyterian Church at 3203 Ramsey St.
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