Jefferson County Homeland Security and Emergency Management has invited the National Weather Service to teach a Skywarn Storm Spotter Flood course on April 12, from 6:30-9 p.m.

The class will be held at the Independent Fire Company, located at 200 West 2nd Avenue, Ranson. Please use the West 3rd Avenue entrance of the building.

This class is free and open to the public.

The SKYWARN courses are designed to educate the public on weather threats in this area, as well as strengthen the ties between the National Weather Service and the local community.

The more spotters the National Weather Service has out there, the faster vital ground truth information gets to the National Weather Service forecasters who make the decisions to issue lifesaving weather warnings.

The Skywarn Flood course is a good overview of flood threats in this region. The course is intended for everyone above the age of 14, however the Skywarn Basics I is a prerequisite for this course.

The flood course includes: Role of spotters; review of the region; what to report and how to do so; tTypes of flooding; forecasting and meteorology of flooding; flooding case studies; and NWS products for flooding

Those interested must pre-register for the course and may do so at skywarnfloodjefferson.eventbrite.com/

Please note that one must take the Skywarn Basics I course before taking the Skywarn Storm Spotter Flood course.

Information about where to take the Skywarn Basics I course can be found at: www.weather.gov/lwx/skywarn

Please contact either Brandon Vallee, at bvallee@jeffersoncountywv.org or call 304-724-8914 or Steve Allen at sallen@ jeffersoncountywv.org or call 304-728-3329 for additional information.