By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The annual storm spotter training event was held Monday night at the Hutchinson Fire Training Center, and as part of his presentation, National Weather Service meteorologist Chance Hayes noted that of the events that warrant a report to his office, only about one-quarter are actually reported.
"I just don't think that people truly understand one, that they can report directly to the National Weather Service exactly what they are seeing, and two, understanding how the information that they can share would actually help us in our warning decision process," Hayes said. "That's why we come out and we train folks, because we want to be able to have all the possible information at our disposal, along with the radar, satellite and local observations, in our warning decision process."
That process, as least as it relates to the Wichita office, uses a lot more than just radar to decide if a storm warrants a warning.
"They may be seeing things at times that the radar may not be depicting, or the local observations may not be pointing toward," Hayes said. "We understand that there is an importance in actually listening to what people have to tell us. They play a vital role in that decision process. We've taken that and really embraced it and put it into our warning philosophy."
Social media has allowed the National Weather Service to get ground truth with pictures a lot faster than they used to.
"Using Twitter and or Facebook would probably better serve the National Weather Service, even though a phone call is still wonderful, don't get me wrong," Hayes said. "The ability to actually see what people are wanting to report is crucial, so that we can see what we're warning for. If we can get that through a picture on Twitter or Facebook, I think that warning decision process is going to be much smoother and more accurate."
You can find the Wichita NWS office at facebook.com/NWSWichita/ or on Twitter at @NWSWichita.