Welcome to the Northern Indiana National Weather
Service (NWS) Skywarn program. Skywarn is a group of
trained severe weather spotters that report directly to
the NWS.
Year after year, reports from Skywarn volunteers assist
the NWS in issuing more timely and more accurate warnings
based on real-time reports throughout our 37 County
Warning Area covering northern Indiana, southern
Michigan and northwest Ohio. The NWS's primary mission is
to issue warnings to protect life and property.
The ground truth reports from Skywarn spotters are an
integral part of the mission critical warning process that
combines advanced Doppler radar data and meteorological
skills. Their observations also provide us with
information in compiling documentation of severe weather
events, verification of warnings and service assessments.
These reports become part of the Storm
Data publication which provides data on a variety of
severe and unusual weather phenomenon, including
statistics on deaths, injuries, and property and crop
damage nation-wide.
A large number of our Skywarn spotters are also
licensed amateur radio operators, also known as
"hams". The hams throughout many of our counties
organize their spotter efforts on amateur radio
frequencies when severe weather threatens. They funnel
their reports directly to the amateur radio station WX9IWX
at the NWS
office.
I want to thank all of the
volunteer severe weather spotters for their time and
commitment to Skywarn.
Steve
Eddy
Warning Coordination Meteorologist
National Weather Service Northern Indiana
Questions or comments concerning the
Program should be sent to:
iwx.skywarn@noaa.gov