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Learn about severe weather from Brad Panovich
Learn how you can become the community’s eyes and ears during severe weather in the Carolinas in this free weather class hosted by Brad Panovich.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Learn how to spot and observe severe weather by becoming a SKYWARN severe weather spotter with a class hosted by WCNC Charlotte Chief Meteorologist Brad Panovich.
The class is free and open to everyone regardless of age and experience. There will be an option to join the class in-person, but since space is limited, there will also be a virtual streaming option.
Brad Panovich’s weather spotter class will be held Thursday, Apr. 20 at 7 p.m. at Lower Left Brewery Co., which is located at 4528 Nations Crossing Road in Charlotte. The location is near the Interstate 77 exit for Woodland Road and Billy Graham Parkway.
Panovich will teach the basics of storm development and key signs to properly identify severe weather such as tornadoes.
Participants will learn:
- Basics of thunderstorm development
- Fundamentals of storm structure
- Identifying potential severe weather features
- Information to report
- How to report information
- Basic severe weather safety
Brad will be taking questions from participants both in-person and virtually. Those who complete the class are invited to join the WCNC Charlotte Storm Spotter Facebook group.
The class will stream here — in addition to the WCNC Charlotte Weather IQ YouTube page and the WCNC+ app, available as a free download for your phone, Roku, or Amazon Fire. The class will also be available for on-demand video playback after the live event has concluded.
Storm spotters are not storm chasers. They do not need special equipment or vehicles. Instead, storm spotters are trained to recognize severe weather happening outside their windows in their own community. This critical information gets relayed to meteorologists, who use hyperlocal storm reports in their efforts to issue timely warnings and storm damage reports.
Those who successfully complete the class will receive certification as a National Weather Service SKYWARN storm spotter program, a nationwide program consisting of more than 350,000 volunteers nationwide.
The program was created in 1970 and has evolved over the years to accept storm reports across technological advancements, including amateur radio, telephone, and social media.
While anyone can submit storm reports to the National Weather Service, reports from certified SKYWARN storm spotters are highly regarded since NWS meteorologists know those have come from trained observers.