Free Severe Weather Spotter Class offered tonight in Fond du Lac

With a tornado warning being issued in Columbia County last week, it shows there is no better time to learn how to spot the dangers of severe weather.

The National Weather Service will be in town tonight, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, teaching a storm spotter training class in an effort to get more people educated with what to look for in the identifying and reporting of severe weather.

The weather representative will teach the difference between wall clouds and shelf clouds, hail sizes, wind speeds and of course tornadoes.

But why does the weather service offer this class?

Their radar can only see a small sample of what is happening in their county warning area, and in some cases, the radar can only see down to a certain elevation above the ground, so while they may
have an idea of the size of hail falling, or that rotation they are seeing aloft in the clouds may be on the ground… they don’t actually have the ground truth. That’s where we come into play. With people scattered all over every county, the weather service is hoping enough of the general public will learn what aspects of severe weather are needed for a severe weather warning and how to identify AND report that weather to the National Weather Service.

Not only does this benefit everyone in the area by being able to get a warning out in time to actually warn people, but it also gives you an edge to keeping you and your family and property safer in the event of severe weather.

The class lasts about 2 hours and is free to attend. It will take place starting at 6:30 Tuesday night in the County Board Chambers room at the City County Government Center at 160 south Macy Street in Fond du Lac. Everyone is encouraged to attend.

Severe weather has had a kickstart this year with a massive outbreak of storms last week. Over 420 tornado reports came into the National Weather Service from March 31st through April 6th. Most of them being in the southern states of Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi.