Resource - What are NOAA Trained Hail Spotters?

Hailscale can provide you with your home’s comprehensive hail history in seconds. Our to-the-minute reports can tell you when, where, and for how long hail events have impacted your roof. But we couldn’t do it alone. Our reports are made possible in part by National Oceanic and Atmospheric (NOAA) trained hail spotters.

Across the country, these professional hail spotters watch the skies. The information they collect helps provide the National Weather Service, or NWS with the data and documentation they need to create a reliable resource that is available not only for teams like Hailscale, but to everyday citizens as well.

Who are hail spotters, and what do they do?

To most of us, a hail event is little more than an occasional nuisance. Some hail events may seem so minor that homeowners may not think twice as they pass. But to a NOAA trained hail spotter, no hail event goes unnoticed. 

When hail happens, hail spotters in your neighborhood jump into action. They go to work documenting the size of hailstones, location of hail strikes, and take note of any damage. Hail spotters may also measure wind speed, and document non-hail related damage such as broken limbs or downed trees. 

After collecting all of this information, they compose a brief report including the data they’ve collected, as well as pictures and videos, and submit them to the closest NWS station. In Minnesota, the closest NWS stations can be found in Chanhassen, Duluth, or LaCrosse. Reports submitted by hail spotters are critical in both short and long term applications, contributing to immediate official warnings and for use in training future hail spotters.

How do hail spotters make their reports?

Hail spotters can report their information in several ways. Sometimes, your local hail spotter may send their report either directly to the closest NWS station, or through the Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP). Other times, they may call in their report by way of the Amatuer Radio Emergency Service (ARES) department associated with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). The ARRL, founded in 1914, has been partnered with the National Weather Service for decades to help provide the most comprehensive documentation of weather events possible.

How are hail spotters certified? What is SKYWARN?

You’re probably wondering what makes for an “officially trained” hail spotter. Most trained spotters are certified through SKYWARN, a program created by the NWS. Since the 1970’s, the SKYWARN program has made it their mission to educate people about the tracking, documentation, and reporting of severe weather events. The NWS considered their trained SKYWARN spotters to be the nation’s “first line of defense against severe weather”. To become certified, spotters must participate in a mandatory training program, and master a field guide that spans over 70 pages!

Minnesota’s hail season is long, and we’re lucky to have a network of committed, professional weather spotters and reporters volunteering their time to provide the reports that make tools like Hailscale possible. 

To date, there are 350,000 to 400,000 trained SKYWARN weather spotters active in the United States. Minnesota alone has five regions of SKYWARN hail spotters covering the entire state, providing the latest documentation of all severe weather events. 

Hailscale puts your local hail spotters’ reports into action for you.

It’s thanks to the passion and commitment of trained weather spotters that tools like Hailscale exist. Hailscale uses more than a decade of these official reports to provide you with a comprehensive history of hail events at your address.

To see your local hail spotters reports in action, run your home’s Hailscale report today!