When the six meter backbone is operational, we take reports from county liaisons, who participate in local county nets. They filter the reports and pass them to the backbone.
This is the ideal situation – however, we are all volunteers, so some nets may not be up during severe weather events. If that is the case, here are some guidelines to follow:
- If you are a spotter in the field
- Please make your reports directly to your local county Skywarn net (see the Map for frequency information).
- If your county net is not up, you may report directly into the backbone.
- If the backbone is not up, call the National Weather Service office by phone using the unlisted number you were provided during spotter training.
- If you are a county net control operator or liaison
- Ensure reports meet the criteria below. Do not forward them if they do not.
- Pass spotter reports to the backbone net.
- If the backbone is not up, call the National Weather Service office on the phone using the number printed on your spotter card.
We take reports of:
- Tornadoes
- Funnel Clouds
- Wall Clouds
- Winds in excess of fifty miles per hour
- Hail dime size or larger
- Flooding in progress
- Storm damage.
Please do not report other kinds of weather unless asked.
Passing Storm Reports
- Please pass only the above reports unless asked.
- When receiving a report from the field, it is the Liaison Station’s responsibility to “clean it up” – many spotters may not know all the details required, so your job is to ensure you get all of that information before passing the report.
- Call Cleveland Weather, and after waiting for acknowledgement, pass your report.
- If we require more information, we will ask.
