The northern Indiana office of the National Weather Service (NWS) today announced new plans for volunteer storm spotter traning as part of the NWS SKYWARN program.

The NWS office plans seven regional, multi-county spotter training sessions in 2014 (see the region map below). An NWS meteorologist will lead each regional session in person, rather than remotely via teleconference. The session for the region that includes Allen County, Indiana is scheduled to take place at Columbia City High School, 600 N. Whitley St., Columbia City, Ind. That session is scheduled for Feb. 18, beginning at 7 p.m. EST. The NWS will not conduct SKYWARN training in Allen County, Indiana in 2014 — not even the remotely-presented training the NWS provided in 2013.

Spotters and people interested in becoming spotters may attend any of the regional spotter training sessions listed on the NWS event calendar. It is not necessary to attend the session designated for your county. For example, residents of southern Allen County might prefer to attend the training that’s scheduled in Bluffton, Ind. Regardless of which session you plan to attend, NWS requests that you register in advance, using the appropriate link on the NWS event calendar. Registration is not required but the NWS encourages registration to help it assue that it has sufficient facilities, etc. for the number of people who attend.

For those unable to attend any of the regional spotter training sessions in 2014, the NWS plans multiple other training opportunities. For more information, please see an email message below from Michael Lewis, the warning coordination meteorologist at the northern Indiana NWS office.