The Southeast Louisiana Skywarn® Group serves as the eyes of the National Weather
Service Office of New Orleans/Baton Rouge, and is a completely voluntary
group of weather enthusiasts who report severe weather and/or
storm damage to the NWS.
In order to become a Skywarn® Spotter, you must attend a training session given
by the NWS Office. Training sessions are advertised across the region through
the NWS Office website and can be accessed by clicking the link above.
If you are interested in becoming a Skywarn® Spotter and want to receive SkyWarn® Training, contact your local parish/county emergency management office or contact our Warning Coordination Meteorologist, at the National Weather Service Office in Slidell at 985-649-0357.
About Skywarn®
SKYWARN® is a voluntary program developed by the National Weather Service where
volunteers serve as storm spotters for the National Weather Service and local
emergency management programs. Keeping their eyes on the sky, volunteers serve
as the eyes and ears for the whole community. Storm spotters come from all walks
of life but they all have generally two things in common - an interest in the
weather and an interest in serving their community.
The goal of SKYWARN® is to improve the warning program by delivering timely severe
weather warnings.
The National Weather Service needs real time reports of hail size, wind damage,
flash flooding, heavy rain,p and tornado development, in order to effectively
warn the public. Even as new technology allows the National Weather Service to
issue warnings with more lead time, spotters will always be needed as links
between radar indications of severe weather and ground truth information.
