Just as severe weather season is ramping up in Nebraska, two of the three National Weather Service offices in the state are canceling storm spotter classes because of staffing shortages.
The weather service offices in Omaha and North Platte have both canceled the classes they normally hold in the spring to train residents on how to spot tornadoes and other severe storms. The reason is a lack of staff.
Both offices have been struggling with staffing shortages that have been exacerbated by a federal hiring freeze. The staffing issues also led the Omaha office to suspend its twice-daily weather balloon launches and North Platte to cut back from two to one.
Trained storm spotters often confirm radar-suspected tornadoes, giving emergency officials extra time to issue warnings. In part because of the storm-spotter network, the average advance notice of a tornado is 16 minutes.
“Every second counts in getting down to your basement, getting to that storm shelter, and by having less training, less-knowledgeable volunteers without the latest information - it’s going to reduce that warning time,” said Lincoln resident Justin Williams, who has been a trained storm spotter for almost 30 years. “That’s concerning to me because again we know that seconds save lives.”
Trained storm spotters play a vital role because weather radar is not able to see everything, said Williams, who noted that spotters helped to notify people of tornadoes in April 2024 that did significant damage in Lincoln and Omaha but caused no serious injuries or fatalities.
“The Waverly tornado that we had on Arbor Day last year, that was confirmed by a Lancaster County volunteer storm spotter to let our local media know, to let the National Weather Service Office Omaha know that there was a very serious tornado that had dropped out of the sky and was doing damage,” he said.
Williams said other organizations will continue to offer storm spotter classes, including amateur radio clubs. In addition, the Hastings National Weather Service office will continue to offer storm spotter training classes in April.