NWS SKYWARN™

The effects of severe weather are felt every year by many Americans. To obtain critical weather information, NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, established SKYWARN™ with partner organizations. SKYWARN™ is a volunteer program with nearly 280,000 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.

Although SKYWARN™ spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, the main responsibility of a SKYWARN™ spotter is to identify and describe severe local storms. In the average year, 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes occur across the United States. These events threatened lives and property.

Since the program started in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN™ spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite and other data, has enabled NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods.

SKYWARN™ storm spotters are part of the ranks of citizens who form the Nation's first line of defense against severe weather.

BarrowCountyWeather.com is a Certified SKYWARN™ spotter and provides SKYWARN™ spotter service as requested by the National Weather Service in Peachtree City and local emergency preparedness organizations in Barrow, Banks and Jackson counties.