The National Weather Service in Peachtree City and Whitfield County Emergency Management Agency will host a free Skywarn Storm Spotter training class on Thursday, March 5 at 6 p.m.
Skywarn is a volunteer program with more than 230,000 trained severe weather spotters. "These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service," officials said.
The class is open to anyone with an interest in the weather – amateur radio operators, police and fire personnel, dispatchers, EMS workers, public utility workers, emergency management teams, boaters, weather enthusiasts and the general public.
The class covers the following topics:
- Importance of Storm Spotters;
- Basics of thunderstorms;
- Relationship between NWS, media, and Emergency Management (EMA);
- Basic radar interpretation;
- Identifying storm and potential severe weather features;
- How and what to report storm information; and
- Storm spotting safety and awareness tips.
The class will be held at Mack Gaston Community Center, 218 N. Fredrick St. in Dalton.
To sign up, call Amy Ramsey with Whitfield EMA at 706-876-2517.