SEVERE WEATHER: Storm Spotters Play Important Role
Some Iowans are taking part in Severe Weather Awareness Week by becoming trained storm spotters.
The National Weather Service held a class Tuesday night. Meteorologist Jeff Zogg says storm spotters are an important part of the National Weather Service team.
With training, they can see things that high-tech equipment might miss.
“There is a lot of unknowns with weather in Iowa, sometimes it doesn’t go according to plan and that’s one of the reasons why spotters are so important. Because sometimes they can provide us with that ground-truth information that maybe we can’t tell from radar. Again, they are a very important part of the equation,” says Zogg.
Zogg says another important tool for the National Weather Service, is social media as a way to collect storm information.