A Westmoreland County man is taking small steps to help local meteorologists.
Kevin Heasly recently took a class with the National Weather Service to become a Skywarn spotter volunteer. In Westmoreland County, volunteers like Heasly and our Channel 11 viewers can give on-the-ground accounts of what may be happening miles away from the National Weather Service office in Moon Township.
“We actually need reports from people who are there to tell us how much snow fell, or else we’d have to drive across our whole county warning area to find out,” said Matt Brudy, NWS Skywarn training instructor.
Heasly said being a volunteer makes him feel connected to what is happening around him. He showed Channel 11 reporter Addison Albert his process, placing his wooden instrument down, taking measurements and filling out a form with information.
Heasly said his family now gets excited for weather events, and his 5-year-old daughter now enjoys watching the forecasts and calling out what she sees.
“She will oftentimes see the radar and be able to tell ‘Oh, that’s heavy rain because it’s a darker red,’” Heasly said.
The Skywarn spotter training is an hour long and free to the community. Volunteers’ contributions become one small piece of all the information coming into Severe Weather Center 11.
“We have a good relationship with the national weather service, and what they do is important, but it is just one of the many resources we use when we put together our forecasts,” Pittsburgh’s Chief Meteorologist Stephen Cropper said.
People at home can get the latest forecast by watching Severe Weather Team 11 on Channel 11 and by downloading the Severe Weather Team 11 app.
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