By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Those wanting to get in on the action during severe weather have an opportunity to learn more at a weather spotter training class next month in St. Joseph.
Buchanan County Emergency Management Director Bill Brinton says it’s important to get proper training to warn the public during severe weather.
“And we do not encourage civilians to go out and be storm spotters,” Brinton tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.
Buchanan County and St. Joseph city officials learned that lesson the hard way a few years ago.
“Somebody who identified themself as a trained storm spotter had called the com center and told them that there was a tornado down by De Kalb. And so, all the sirens are going off,” Birr says. “There was no issue; checked with the National Weather Service (which) said there was absolutely, positively no issue. We just want to make sure that what the public gets is great information.”
The training seminar had been scheduled for this evening, but was postponed to early next month due to the winter storm.
Brinton says the training seminar will be led by meteorologists from the National Weather Service Office in Pleasant Hill.
“They bring it down to a level where everybody can understand. And they take questions. We’ll have people there to help answer,” Brinton says. “My goal is to just have people come and learn a little bit about the weather.”
Brinton says the instructors will let those attending really know what to look for when severe weather rolls in.
“Can we go outside and look at a cloud and say, hey, that’s a wall cloud or they’re called scud clouds or some kind of scary cloud or whatever? Do we really know what it’s about? And do we really know what’s causing this tornado or what’s causing rain and everything?” Brinton says. “Our goal is to make sure people understand how weather affects them.”
The 2025 Weather Spotter Training seminar has been rescheduled for March 10th at Grace Calvary Chapel off FF in St. Joseph.
It is sponsored by the National Weather Service, Buchanan County Emergency Management, and the City of St. Joseph Emergency Management.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.