A Skywarn Spotter Training course will be coming to Orange County this fall, courtesy of the National Weather Service in Raleigh.

On September 23, county residents can attend a free training class on how to spot weather emergencies and report them to weather services. Trained meteorologists will be instructing how to detect weather emergencies such as thunderstorms, flash floods and tornadoes.

The class will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the West Campus Office Building in downtown Hillsborough. There are no costs, prerequisites or pre-registration needed to attend.

Emergency Management Planner at Orange County Emergency Services, Josh Hollingsworth says the course is very useful for severe weather seasons in North Carolina, such as hurricane season in the spring as well as the possibility of winter storms later this year.

“The training is very important because the citizens, of course, can protect themselves by being able to spot severe weather but they can also relay this information to the National Weather Service,” Hollingsworth said. “When people report the severe weather, (the National Weather Service) is able to add that into their warning or verify that the warning is warranted for the area.”

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