Free prepper education through the National Weather Service

Bob - September 23, 2021

https://www.weather.gov/wrn/get-involved

Good morning,

A prepper must continuously learn all the pertinent subjects.

NOAA’s National Weather Service offers some courses … on weather of course … that are ideal. I took the Skywarn class – only a few hours.

Do note much adjustments to classroom meetings during the pandemic. Make the local inquiries and see what fits into one’s plans and programs.  The Moderna CEO made an announcement that the pandemic will end soon.

These in person classes are ideal places that can assist GSOPrepper and Jonnie seeking a local prepper group.  Just mention to someone attending seeking to learn about the other prepper subjects also and wondering if there’s an area group doing the same. The answers are out there. There are “normal” groups of prepper seeking to increase their knowledge.

For relaxation after studies, go to parties at CoCoRa High School …… just joking, just joking !

Preparedness is a de facto requirement of citizenship. FEMA has the ideal philosophy: “Prepare for realistic, worst case scenarios”.

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Excellent topic Bob!

I HIGHLY recommend everyone go take one of the free Skywarn classes. They are fun, educational, and it does help with your preparedness. Plus, if you want to get active in it you can and help contribute to more accurate weather prediction and scientific knowledge.

Click the link Bob shared and you can learn more about it. Feel free to ask either of us any questions if you have any about what to expect.

 

What are some of the things you learn in Skywarn and can do to contribute to more accurate weather prediction like you say?

-Tim

 

Good morning Pizza Ninja / Tim,

This is a tangent response to your question (believed focused to Robert [not sure]).

I took the class for additional reasons. I’m both an emergency responder and also have a NGO group (independent of my “homestead” group w/ co-op)

When I go out … eg leaving in a couple of days for nice area of Virginia for some volunteer work … the most frequent matter I check on is – weather forcasts”.  This determines so much.  Am going from the humid coast to near the Shendandoah Valley.  It could be ten degrees colder – and this is occuring during a major season change with a hurricane in formation offshore in Caribbean.

My groups are in Federal compliance.  I use the ICS NIMS forms for any assembly of people. ICS Form 208 is labeled “Safety Plan”. The starting topic I brief on is WEATHER. This is recorded on the 208.

One of the key prepper subjects is “situational awareness”.  During an emergency there are rapidly changing circumstances requiring the making of decisions under conditions of uncertainity. Weather emergencies generate human emergencies and the human species is not a rational animal in the scheme.

At my Skywarn class we learned about the clouds and what can be determined as to what’s pending from knowing about the clouds.

Combining the addressing of situational awareness especially when the situation changes and weather knowledge is valuable. “Knowledge is power.” Motto of Army War College.

Being the old combat soldier that I am, my favorite cloud is fog.

 

Thanks, Robert.

Aren’t these Skywarn classes also the ideal environment to find out about area / local prepper groups ?!

The weather-oloist instructor (our instructor was a highly educated scientist) is a de facto clearning house of area knowledge on preparedness. The other classmates will have some already in prepper groups.

I found the Skywarn class a valuable time spent …… and had a good time !

 

Good morning

Bob- I agree that Skywarn is an excellent place to find out about other preppers and like-minded individuals. There may have been the one or two people attending the class solely for the weather portion, but I would bet that the majority of people there were learning to be better prepared and have that sort of mindset. 

Show up early, talk during your lunch break, and chat with others after as well. I’m sure you will meet someone you can talk disasters with.

Pizza Ninja- Skywarn is a great class that for me was taught by a local meteorologist. We learned how to look out for severe weather and how to watch the clouds and learn what formations will turn into tornadoes. They also teach you about this program  where you can buy these measuring jars and track how much rain you receive and then can report that to their database. There is also a wood square block you can get or make and place in your yard, you then track the amount of snowfall within a certain duration on that block and report that to them as well.

 

Excellent point, Robert; “Show up early”.

It’s really just like making a sales call. My biggest, most lucrative sales calls were well prior to some seminar or meeting starting.  The good old jelly donut mess might be annoying but that’s where the contacts and money made.

Showing up early allows for meeting objective like getting info of area / local prepper groups.

 

Thank you all for your answers. I’m pretty busy this time of year but joining a class during the winter might be fun. 

-Tim

 

Good afternoon Pizza Ninja / Tim,

Definitely keep busy. … You’re supporting my Social Security check allowing me to attend to the interesting stuff.

You now know the prepper fundamentals. As specifics develop, the material will be posted here at TP.com.  Just check in periodically.

 

Good morning,

There’s a subject field in business administration known by the initials “M.B.W.A.”. It stands for Management By Wandering Around”. Walking around the company facility – all shifts – yield much information.

For the prepper it’s great to get exposed to the advanced stuff … just for familiarity, at least.

One example of this for the prepper using the web is to surf around the web store “The weather store . com”.  Just glance at the instruments and, don’t buy anything until knowing what plans are.

An example of M.B.W.A.: The company owner checked on his facility – on graveyard shift. Many admin desks looked like a party ended the day. The refrigerator was probably cleaned out perhaps during the Truman administration.

The owner then went to th loading dock to watch some trucks get loaded. The quiet daytime loading dock was now a loud music center with the ice chest packed with large bottles of good brew … no thimbles of beer like that Brit product called beer. 

The owner left and continued his “checking up”. The loading dock section was a key profit maker and a blessing to the company’s P&L statements.

Go through the weather store stuff.  There’s another store like this in either California or Arizona.

Learning by osmosis just doesn;t work. 

Preppers are safe and thrive. 

Prepare now for “realistic, worst case scenarios” (FEMA).

 

Good afternoon,

Somewhere on thread had posted a link to an east coast store selling weather instruments.

The link was for familiarization and not for other purposes.

That mentioned west coast store is in California.

Again, just for seeing the stuff helps one learn what the weather volunteers do.

Don’t even consider buying anything.  Learn what you’re interested in as a prepper … the kids also … and then seek a place with better prices.

That West Coast store is:

“Anything Weather”, Palm Desert, California 

……

I am not involved in either store nor would be.  No recommendations from me.  I’m only a user of weather reports and hope to learn about weather map symbols.  

Prep ! Safety governs !