Syzdekistan

Last Friday I went to a refresher Skywarn Training class at the National Weather Service Office. Weather Spotters help the Weather Service by calling in severe weather. Often, the forecasters need additional information from a trained spotter to determine exactly what is happening on the ground. Our local weather service office in Las Vegas covers over 80,000 square miles including southern Nevada, southeastern California, and northeastern Arizona. WIth such a huge area and only a few weather stations, eyewitness reports are critical especially in rural areas.

I had received training three years ago so it was time for a refresher class. One of the differences this training session was that we spent some time viewing videos of thunderstorms looking for severe weather features such as wall clouds, funnel clouds, and tornados. Then they would speed up the video so any rotation would be noticeable.

The Skywarn program was started to track tornados. Properly identifying tornados was a big focus of our training. However, there are few tornados in our area (but they did have pictures of tornados and funnel clouds taken around the region). The big weather killer (averaging 1 death per year) in the desert southwest is flash flooding (we’re under a Flash Flood Watch right now as I write this).

The list of criteria for spotters to report to the Weather Service include:

• Tornado
• Funnel Cloud
• Rotating Wall Cloud
• Downburst
• Wind (causing damage (such as broken tree limbs or downed power lines) or estimated speeds over 40 mph)
• Hail (greater than pea-size or covering the ground)
• Rainfall (greater than 0.25 inches per 30 minutes or any cumulative total over 0.5 inches)
• Flooding
• Visibility (under 1/2 mile caused by anything (fog, dust, smoke, ash, etc)
• Snowfall (accumulating one inch or more per hour, or any depth on desert floors)
• Icing of road surfaces

Over the last three years I’ve called in about four times. Once was to report flash flooding near the Las Vegas Wash, another time I called to report flooding over Nevada State Route 159 near Blue Diamond, again to report 0.40 inches of rain in 15 minutes and another time to report 0.50 inches of rain in 35 minutes.

If you are a weather enthusiast or live in a rural area, I heartily suggest taking a spotter training class in your area. Weather is a fascinating topic and your interest can help save lives and property.

Here is a picture of a tornado near Hiko, Nevada photographed by Howard Blum on August 31, 2000. It was estimated F1 to F2 strength.