Weather spotter

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Weather spotters of the Skywarn system are used in the U.S. to report severe weather.

These volunteers are usually trained by the National Weather Service, and given a phone number or amateur radio frequency to call if a major weather event, such as a tornado, severe thunderstorm, or flood occurs where the spotter is located.

Spotter information is heavily used by local authorities and the National Weather Service, and they are an integral part of the severe weather warning process. Canada also has a spotter program, similar to the US, but smaller and less organized.

[edit] Media weather spotters

Since New England experiences harsh winters, several regional television stations use weather spotters for up-to-date snowfall amounts and reports. WHDH-TV's network, launched by former meteorologist Todd Gross, is the largest in New England with close to 300 spotters. The former name of the group was "WHDHwx - The 7NEWS Weather Spotter Group." In December 2005, the group's name was switched to "NEWeather - Todd Gross' Weather Spotter Network", according to the Yahoo! groups page.

WZMY-TV's (formerly WNDS) meteorologist Al Kaprielian started his weather watcher group in 1986, when WNDS-TV first went on the air. Kaprielian features one weather watcher per night on "my TV Prime," with their name, town, and current temperature on the map.

Other Boston-area stations with weather spotter networks include WBZ-TV, WCVB-TV, and WMUR-TV in Manchester, New Hampshire.