What is Alachua Co. SKYWARN?

Alachua County SKYWARN is an organized system of trained local spotter volunteers operating under the NWS Severe Storm Reporting Networks program. "The fundamental objective of Severe Storm Reporting Networks is to provide timely and accurate reports of severe weather in support of the National Weather Service (NWS) Severe Local Storm Warning Program." (NWS Operations Manual, Part-B, Ch. 21, Para. 1) Alachua County SKYWARN spotters report severe weather-related events occuring within the county specifically to the Jacksonville Office (NWSO-JAX) of the National Weather Service, as well as to local Emergency Management, helping both to provide better weather watch and warning services to the public. (Counties in North Florida which are under the purview of the NWS-JAX County Warning Area (CWA) include: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee, and Union.)

Alachua County SKYWARN plays host to both Basic and Advanced NWS Spotter Training sessions, which we've always tried to offer on a repeating six-month basis (or as is convenient for the NWS-JAX instructors). These classes are usually taught by NWS personnel. When sessions become scheduled they will appear in the SKYWARN Class Schedule.

As it exists at this time, Alachua County SKYWARN consists of mostly civilians, and a good number of hams. Though it gives you more capability, you don't have to have a radio at all in order to participate.

The spotter's only real purpose is to LOOK UP, to verify whether a severe-level event is occuring, and to report what he or she sees, and no more. ANYONE may participate in SKYWARN. All you really need is to attend at least a Basic-level training class, and a telephone, or a cell phone, or some way of communicating what you see to either local Emergency Management and/or NWS-JAX. Alachua County SKYWARN has helped many hundreds of people get training in at least BASIC weather spotting over the years since we formed in 1997.

Alachua County SKYWARN's spotters includes civilians from all walks of life: doctors, dentists, farmers, lawyers, people in the military, police and fire/rescue workers, computer programmers, data entry operators, salesmen, teachers, students, local reporters from the Gainesville Sun, WUFT-TV NEWS 5, the Chief Meteorologist at WCJB/TV-20, and even an ex-hurricane hunter who used to fly aboard early Air Force hurricane hunter aircraft!

SKYWARN-related Graphics you can download
Alachua Co. SKYWARN Brochure (PDF doc)
Waldo Wall Cloud Video (63 MB, MPEG)
Why Do We Need A Local SKYWARN?
Spotter Study and Informational Resources
Upcoming SKYWARN-related Meetings
Local Weather Info & Data
Reporting Criteria
NWS-JAX Severe Weather Report Form
NSSL Severe Weather Event Database Reporting Form

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, CREDITS, and KUDOS

Alachua County SKYWARN E-mail: admin@alachuaskywarn.org Account Created: November 14, 1997. Copyright © 1997-2009 by Alachua County SKYWARN. All Rights Reserved.

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