As we head into Wisconsin's stormy and tornado season, a new crop of storm spotters in Racine County learned what it takes to play a crucial role in severe weather safety.
At Gateway Technical College in Sturtevant, Racine County Emergency Management and the National Weather Service held a training session with several dozen people about storm structure and the significance of on-the-ground reporting.
Watch: Storm spotters train for season ahead:
18-year-old Jason Stolfi is a student at Gateway and he told TMJ4’s Tahleel Mohieldin he’s glad he signed up.
“This is a really fun experience,” Stolfi said. "As I kid, I used to be scared of tornadoes, now I'm more like this is just a storm.”
Conquering fear is also what motivated Rick Swierczynski to get involved.
"Most of my life I was scared to death of storms,” he shared, “but a friend of mine says 'listen to the amateur radio operation and you’re going to get a wealth of information.'"
So he did.
"It went from fear to all of a sudden, I hear a storm is approaching. I’m getting the spotter reports. I know what to expect,” Swierczynski said.
Swierczynski now has more than 30 years of storm spotting experience and is serving as the vice president of the Milwaukee Area Skywarn Association.
Swierczynski told Mohieldin that more storm spotter volunteers are needed because NWS and emergency responders can’t do it alone.
"The National Weather Service has $3.5 million radars, but the problem is they can not see ground level,” he explained.
NWS forecasters and emergency workers also can’t be everywhere, so they need community members to act as their eyes and ears for real-time, accurate reporting on the ground.
NWS uses these observations to issue community warnings that not only help emergency crews and first responders allocate resources but could mean the difference between life and death.
For Atolfi, his desire to help others was another reason he decided to get the training.
"Protecting people as best you can, save as many lives as you can during these kinds of situations,” he shared. “I mean you never know what's going to happen out there.”
Racine County Emergency Management Director Lorenzo Santos said those reports also go a long way in ensuring community safety is taken seriously.
“If your neighbors are reporting that information, it kind of has more weight,” he explained. “They know what normal looks like and they know what it looks like if conditions take a turn for the worst.”
Santos said emergency management was only expecting about a couple dozen people to attend the training, but he was thrilled to see roughly 80 people participate Thursday night.
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