The National Weather Service (NWS) has radar scattered throughout the country to help identify weather patters, create weather alerts, and forecast future conditions.
But it turns out there's a limit to radar technology. The farther you are from a radar's center, for example, the less is known about the lowest layer of clouds. So the NWS relies on human volunteers -- weather spotters -- to call in updates and conditions and help complete the meteorological picture.
In order to get a jump on the spring and summer storms, the NWS will be hosting weather spotting classes throughout West Texas over the next few weeks.
They're called SKYWARN classes, and they're led by Mark Strobin. He's a Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service and he's our guest tonight on West Texas Talk.
We talk about the limits of radar technology, the impact weather spotters have on NWS forecasts, and weather spotting as an act of community service.
