Severe Weather Spotters Wanted

Dalhart Weather Review
(Mar. 3 - Mar. 9)
by Aaron Graves

The National Weather Service will be in Dalhart this Saturday, March 14, to train willing volunteers to submit severe weather reports. The hour-and-a-half training session is free, and will be held at the Dalhart Volunteer Fire Department starting at 9 a.m.

This training is open to anyone who wants to help out. The class will show participants what qualifies as severe weather and how to report it from your location. The more reports the NWS gets during a severe weather event, the better. 

Why? Doppler radar provides valuable information. However, due to the curve of the earth, a radar cannot see what is going on at ground level. Thus, reports about hail size and tornadoes - what is called "ground truth" - are extremely valuable. 

This is especially true in rural areas, like Dallam and Hartley counties. The program does not require you to get in your car and go "chase" a storm. It asks that you stay safe, and report what you see from where you are located. In my opinion, it is an hour-and-a-half well spent. 

To get an idea of what spotter training is like, check out the two videos at the bottom of this Amarillo NWS web page: 

Click Here To see

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Dalhart enjoyed some light rain and snow back on March 3 and 4. We picked up 0.02" of rainfall and 0.08" of snow. Thereafter, we have enjoyed blue skies with daily high temperatures in the 60's. Expect this spring weather to continue through the weekend, with highs in the 70's through Sunday. 

High and low temps the past week

Mar 3: 55, 31
Mar 4: 31, 16
Mar 5: 47, 11
Mar 6: 63, 21
Mar 7: 65, 26
Mar 8: 65, 34
Mar 9: 65, 35