Weather spotting

Weather spotting is observing weather for the purpose of reporting to a larger group or organization. Examples include National Weather Service (NWS) co-op observers and Skywarn storm spotters.

Storm spotters

A storm spotter is a specific type of weather spotter. In the U.S., these volunteers are usually trained by the National Weather Service or local Skywarn group, and are given a phone number, internet outlet, or amateur radio frequency to report to if a severe weather event, such as a tornado, severe thunderstorm, or flash flood occurs where the spotter is located. They add ground truth information to remote sensing technology such as weather radar. Canwarn is the national storm spotting program of Canada, Skywarn Europe covers about a dozen countries (including the U.K., which is also covered by TORRO), and Australia also has a program organized by the Bureau of Meteorology.

National Weather Service coop observers

The National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) is a network of 11,000 volunteers that record official weather observations across the United States. Data is taken from a multitude of geographic regions and topography, and sent to the National Weather Service and National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) for official records. In making these reports, observers use a specialized set of jargon and slang to describe their observations.