Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk-Line: Alex Kirchner, WREX-TV Chief Meteorologist

Transcript

Talk-Line: Alex Kirchner, WREX-TV Chief Meteorologist · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

0:00
Speaker 1: We are quarter passed the hour. This is Monday, It's
0:02
Speaker 1: February twenty four, the year is twenty twenty five, and
0:04
Speaker 1: it's time for another information edition of talk line. Here
0:07
Speaker 1: at AM fourteen sixteen and FM ninety five one WIX in.
0:10
Speaker 1: Good morning, I'm Steve Marco. It is time to talk weather.
0:14
Speaker 1: We're going to talk weather today. Yes, we were supposed
0:16
Speaker 1: to be talking about income tax and tax preparation with
0:18
Speaker 1: our friends from the IRS, but unfortunately, I believe because
0:22
Speaker 1: of the situation with the Internal Revenue Service, we had
0:25
Speaker 1: to cancel our tax talk line for this month of
0:27
Speaker 1: February twenty twenty five. In instead, we have contacted our
0:32
Speaker 1: good friends from WRIX Television and have an interesting talk
0:36
Speaker 1: line set to come your way today because next week
0:39
Speaker 1: is Illinois Severe Storms Preparedness Week and we are going
0:42
Speaker 1: to get the low down with our chief meteorologists out
0:44
Speaker 1: of Rockford. He is with us on daily weathercasts here
0:48
Speaker 1: at AM fourteen sixteen FM ninety five one, and you
0:50
Speaker 1: see him nightly on WRIX Channel thirteen with Weather First.
0:56
Speaker 1: Information stormtracker Alex Kirshner is live with this this morning
0:59
Speaker 1: from RIX Television on a fourteen sixteen FM ninety five one.
1:03
Speaker 2: Alex, good morning, Good morning, it's a pleasure to be here.
1:06
Speaker 1: Well, sir, thank you very much, and I appreciate Alex
1:09
Speaker 1: making the We were going to schedule Alex a little
1:11
Speaker 1: bit later on towards the time, but unfortunately because of
1:15
Speaker 1: our scheduling, we are with him today. But nonetheless, Alex
1:19
Speaker 1: or just a week away from the start of See,
1:22
Speaker 1: are we really talking about severe storms in the early
1:25
Speaker 1: part of March.
1:28
Speaker 2: Generally No, Plus we've seen even just within the last
1:31
Speaker 2: couple of years storms popping up in late March, and
1:36
Speaker 2: so that's kind of the purpose of having that Severe
1:38
Speaker 2: Storms Preparedness Week so early in March, so hopefully there's
1:42
Speaker 2: enough runway for you to get ready and prepared for
1:45
Speaker 2: severe weather seasons so it doesn't catch you off guard
1:48
Speaker 2: when we do have those storms early in the spring.
1:52
Speaker 1: Now, Illinois has observance as we mentioned, next week March
1:56
Speaker 1: third through the seventh. That's Severe Storms Preparedness Week in Illinois.
1:59
Speaker 1: Missour Jury is also the same March third through the seventh.
2:02
Speaker 1: But Iowa, their severe storms information won't be out until
2:06
Speaker 1: March to twenty four through the twenty eighth, so they
2:08
Speaker 1: wait until the end of the month Alex in the
2:11
Speaker 1: state of Iowa before sharing that information. But it all
2:14
Speaker 1: kind of hours around warnings on a state level, right,
2:19
Speaker 1: you know, and putting that to you know, information forward,
2:22
Speaker 1: We're probably going to get some testing done right on equipment,
2:28
Speaker 1: you know, eas things like that during this time, right.
2:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, And we have to remember that Illinois is a
2:34
Speaker 2: pretty long state too, so the southern end of Illinois
2:37
Speaker 2: might be seeing those severe storms much earlier than months
2:40
Speaker 2: versus us farther through the north. And I think that's
2:43
Speaker 2: why Iowa might be doing a little later. But overall,
2:47
Speaker 2: this is the kind of time to yes, tast equipment
2:50
Speaker 2: on a state level, make sure EAES is ready to go.
2:53
Speaker 2: And then it's the same thing that you should probably
2:55
Speaker 2: be doing at home too. If you happen to turn
2:58
Speaker 2: off your weather radio for whatever during the winter months,
3:01
Speaker 2: let's get that turned back on. Let's make sure that's
3:03
Speaker 2: ready to go. Double check your notifications on your phone.
3:07
Speaker 2: How do you get weather information right there on the go,
3:12
Speaker 2: just so you're ready and set in case one of
3:15
Speaker 2: those early storms brews up and been there notified.
3:18
Speaker 1: Alec Kirshner is our guest today. Our chief meteorologists at
3:21
Speaker 1: WRX Television Rockford are storm tracker Alex Kirshner with Weather
3:26
Speaker 1: First Information today on AM fourteen sixty. We are talking
3:29
Speaker 1: about Illinois Severe Storms Preparedness Week, which is next week.
3:32
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about We're going to kind of
3:33
Speaker 1: break that down the week in its stead, but Alex,
3:36
Speaker 1: I want to get going with talking about weather and
3:40
Speaker 1: talk about the recent weather that we've had across our
3:43
Speaker 1: Noil Little Alinois area. Week ago, Alex, you wouldn't have
3:46
Speaker 1: thought that we'd been talking about severe storms. I mean,
3:49
Speaker 1: we were in the deep freeze last week of what's
3:51
Speaker 1: going on with the weather right now.
3:54
Speaker 2: So this week is kind of interesting in that we're
3:56
Speaker 2: transitioning out of that deep freeze and kind of it's
4:00
Speaker 2: almost like the weather's overcorrecting. So we're talking forty to
4:03
Speaker 2: fifties this week, which almost puts us more in the
4:07
Speaker 2: mood for Severe Storms Preparedness Week. But yeah, last week
4:10
Speaker 2: and several times this winter, we did have those big
4:14
Speaker 2: deep freezes the Arctic air coming in, and we've had
4:19
Speaker 2: plenty of that this winter, so it's kind of nice
4:21
Speaker 2: to get out of that bone chilling weather. What I
4:24
Speaker 2: find interesting is that we really haven't had much for snowfall, like,
4:28
Speaker 2: we've had plenty of cold air, but the drought like
4:32
Speaker 2: conditions we've had since really the fall has continued well
4:36
Speaker 2: into this winter. So even though we did have a
4:39
Speaker 2: decent amount of snow recently, we're still well below average
4:42
Speaker 2: for snowfall. But it still feels like a normal winter.
4:45
Speaker 2: So I think we've been kind of trapped in that
4:49
Speaker 2: we're stuck in the cold pattern, and so then the
4:51
Speaker 2: storm track as well to our south, so we're avoiding
4:55
Speaker 2: all of the snow showers. But as we usually see
4:59
Speaker 2: there in the spring, that storm track retreats back to
5:02
Speaker 2: the north and suddenly we're looking at frequent severe storms.
5:07
Speaker 2: So it all kind of ties together. Eventually we're going
5:09
Speaker 2: to get out of this drought pattern, but that may
5:12
Speaker 2: mean you have to be extra aware of the weather
5:14
Speaker 2: when we have storms pop up.
5:16
Speaker 1: Now, you mentioned Alex, you know, and as far as
5:19
Speaker 1: the scale, I guess I don't say from one to ten,
5:23
Speaker 1: but in your opinion, you know, twenty twenty four into
5:27
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, the winter season, it's been pretty pretty calm,
5:31
Speaker 1: hasn't it. You know, you mentioned just the one period
5:34
Speaker 1: and we've still got that snow on the ground to
5:37
Speaker 1: deal with. But other than that, I can't recall really,
5:40
Speaker 1: you know, having to shovel too much this year.
5:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, we really haven't. I think even leading up to
5:47
Speaker 2: last week it was maybe an inch or so at
5:49
Speaker 2: a time, and with melts right away, so I know
5:52
Speaker 2: most spots are sitting pretty well below aperture snowfall by
5:56
Speaker 2: a good foot or so. So it has been a
5:59
Speaker 2: pretty calm winter, and I think that ties into the
6:02
Speaker 2: drought pattern we've had for a couple months now. But
6:07
Speaker 2: usually when we don't have snow on the ground, it's
6:09
Speaker 2: a lot warmer. So that's where I find it kind
6:11
Speaker 2: of interesting that we've had enough Arctic air to make
6:13
Speaker 2: it still feel like winter at least.
6:16
Speaker 1: Good or bad Alex though, for you know, for us
6:18
Speaker 1: to proceed forward, I mean, do we need moisture, you know,
6:22
Speaker 1: even during the winter time or is this good or
6:25
Speaker 1: is this bad? You mentioned drought, and nobody likes to
6:27
Speaker 1: hear that term used even in the winter time, right.
6:30
Speaker 2: We don't pick up a ton of moisture during the winter.
6:33
Speaker 2: Snow doesn't really have a lot of moisture built into it,
6:36
Speaker 2: but it does provide a nice little reservoir, so when
6:40
Speaker 2: it melts, it's getting some of that water into the
6:44
Speaker 2: fields and things. But if it melts too earlier, if
6:47
Speaker 2: we don't have enough snowfall, it all just ends up
6:51
Speaker 2: not sticking around, So that can kind of exasperate trout
6:55
Speaker 2: conditions into the spring. So it's better if we had
6:58
Speaker 2: some snow on the ground, or at least if we're
7:01
Speaker 2: going to be warm enough some frequent rainfall. And really
7:03
Speaker 2: haven't seen either. Now.
7:06
Speaker 1: Of course, we've kind of felt the repercussions of this
7:10
Speaker 1: already in sections not here locally, but I'm thinking about Kentucky,
7:15
Speaker 1: Alex you know, looking at that state and the situation
7:18
Speaker 1: they've gone through with the severe running through and then
7:22
Speaker 1: you know the water's melting, right, I mean, they've had
7:25
Speaker 1: severe flooding in those areas. Do you think that's going
7:28
Speaker 1: to occur?
7:29
Speaker 2: You know?
7:29
Speaker 1: Here in Iron Neck of the Woods.
7:31
Speaker 2: I think the only thing we have to watch out for,
7:34
Speaker 2: at least this week is when the ice on the
7:37
Speaker 2: river breaks up. There could be some sudden river flooding
7:40
Speaker 2: in spots because that ice can get jammed up on
7:43
Speaker 2: ridges and things, and so that can cause like a
7:47
Speaker 2: bit of a dam. So if you live along the river,
7:50
Speaker 2: or have business along some of the rivers. Just make
7:53
Speaker 2: sure that you're keeping a very close eye out for
7:55
Speaker 2: any kind of sudden flooding as all this ice breaks up.
8:00
Speaker 2: I'm not seeing a ton of rain in the forecast,
8:03
Speaker 2: so I think like river floodings are concerned this week,
8:05
Speaker 2: but then after that it might just be are we
8:09
Speaker 2: getting enough rain to get us kind of back on trackt.
8:11
Speaker 1: The spring season prognostication with Alex Yeah here on AM
8:14
Speaker 1: fourteen sixteen FM ninety five one, and of course concerned
8:17
Speaker 1: along the river areas. Of course, we are a river
8:21
Speaker 1: city as well as Rockford, so we need to note
8:25
Speaker 1: that when we're watching the weather as we move into
8:28
Speaker 1: the spring, Alex, anything you know that you're seeing now
8:32
Speaker 1: on you know, on the models and all that stuff
8:34
Speaker 1: for our spring weather season as we get going here
8:37
Speaker 1: are we going to be you know higher or lower?
8:39
Speaker 1: I mean usually have some information.
8:41
Speaker 2: There, so usually you know, as we go into the
8:44
Speaker 2: spring season, I think it's warmer. We are looking at
8:47
Speaker 2: a bit of a warm spring ahead as this Lninia
8:51
Speaker 2: that didn't really get going kind of retreats. The hope
8:55
Speaker 2: is that we end up with more moisture than what
8:58
Speaker 2: we've seen but that has been unfortunately a little hard
9:01
Speaker 2: to come by overall. So I'm pulling up the latest
9:06
Speaker 2: information right now, and the three month outlook actually does
9:09
Speaker 2: have some above average precipitation chances, so that could vote
9:13
Speaker 2: well for us. That doesn't mean we're going to get
9:16
Speaker 2: frequent rainfall every week for the next three months, but
9:20
Speaker 2: even just a shade above average for rainfall for the
9:24
Speaker 2: next three months is great news. So it doesn't look
9:28
Speaker 2: like overall we're going to get all that warm. We'll
9:31
Speaker 2: kind of have what looks to be a normal spring
9:33
Speaker 2: for temperature, and then that long range outlook, at least
9:36
Speaker 2: for right now, latest trends have maybe a little bit
9:40
Speaker 2: more rainfall, which could help our drop situation.
9:42
Speaker 1: Alex Kirshner, our chief media oologist at WRX Television. Rockford,
9:46
Speaker 1: is our guest on the talk line today. We're talking
9:48
Speaker 1: about Illinois Severe Storms Preparedness Week, which is next week,
9:52
Speaker 1: and we're going to focus on that week when we
9:54
Speaker 1: come back from a five minute break for News First
9:56
Speaker 1: with Tim Lee, We're going to focus on the week.
9:58
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about what you need to be
10:00
Speaker 1: aware of, what you need to know as far as
10:02
Speaker 1: your knowledge. We're going to talk about weatherspotting as well
10:04
Speaker 1: with Alex between eight thirty and nine. He's gonna stay
10:07
Speaker 1: with us and join us for our extended talk line
10:09
Speaker 1: here at AM fourteen sixteen and FM ninety five one.
10:12
Speaker 1: Let's take a break here for five minutes of news
10:13
Speaker 1: first next to D eight thirty. We continue our talk
10:17
Speaker 1: line on this Monday, February the twenty fourth with our
10:19
Speaker 1: good friends from WRIX Television, Rockford Storm Tracker. Alex Kirshner
10:24
Speaker 1: are chief meteorologist at WRIX Television Rockford, is live with
10:28
Speaker 1: us by telephone this morning talking about Illinois Severe Storms
10:31
Speaker 1: Preparedness Week, which is next week here in our land
10:34
Speaker 1: of Lincoln March third through the seventh, and we're going
10:36
Speaker 1: to break that down in just a little bit for
10:38
Speaker 1: you here at AM fourteen sixteen FM ninety five one.
10:41
Speaker 1: But Alex again, thank you for joining us for the
10:43
Speaker 1: expanded talk line today. Appreciate it.
10:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's great to be here.
10:47
Speaker 1: Well, and we're we're gonna jump right in once again,
10:50
Speaker 1: Alex with where we kind of left off in the
10:53
Speaker 1: first portion of our talk line today talking about Illinois
10:56
Speaker 1: severe storms and preparedness time and what we should know
10:59
Speaker 1: as far as watching and warnings are concerned Analox, This
11:01
Speaker 1: is pretty much a routine time that we use to
11:04
Speaker 1: update those that are out of the picture that really
11:07
Speaker 1: need to know about weather information for the upcoming severe
11:11
Speaker 1: storms preparedness time. You've kind of gotten that broken down
11:15
Speaker 1: for us. What do we need to know going into
11:17
Speaker 1: the spring season, Alex.
11:19
Speaker 2: So a head into spring, just make sure you're familiar
11:23
Speaker 2: and kind of dusting off your knowledge about the watches
11:26
Speaker 2: versus the warnings, so that watch is kind of your
11:29
Speaker 2: heads up that severe weather may happen in this time
11:34
Speaker 2: period for these counties, so be prepared during that window
11:38
Speaker 2: when severe weather is possible. But imagine it like you're
11:43
Speaker 2: making some brownies. So this is all the ingredients are
11:46
Speaker 2: out on the table, but nothing's necessarily come together yet,
11:51
Speaker 2: and then the warning is when everything does come together,
11:54
Speaker 2: that's when you need to take action. So that's not
11:57
Speaker 2: I need to review my plan or maybe I'll run
11:59
Speaker 2: outside and look for the storms. A warning is if
12:03
Speaker 2: I'm in the warning, I need to get to my
12:06
Speaker 2: shelter or take the necessary actions as quickly as possible.
12:10
Speaker 2: So that warnings just go go to your basement if
12:12
Speaker 2: you need to. Those kind of.
12:13
Speaker 1: Things all right, So the stuff that we need to know,
12:16
Speaker 1: and obviously we encourage those that again need to know
12:22
Speaker 1: more about the weather. Those that are more weather prone
12:25
Speaker 1: probably should have one of those weather radio. The weather
12:27
Speaker 1: radio is still pretty much as staple, right Alex, even
12:30
Speaker 1: though we've gone into more technical times, that good old
12:33
Speaker 1: fashioned weather radio is still needed.
12:36
Speaker 2: It's definitely still needed because, I mean, the cell phones
12:39
Speaker 2: and all that are great. I think it's fantastic that
12:43
Speaker 2: people can have some sort of way to get notified
12:46
Speaker 2: about severe weather right there in their pocket. But there's
12:50
Speaker 2: times where you'll leave your phone in the other room,
12:53
Speaker 2: it's on silent, maybe you don't have cell reception or
12:57
Speaker 2: great WiFi. That the radio is still a fantastic backup
13:02
Speaker 2: for that, or in some cases a great primary again
13:06
Speaker 2: if you've got like poor cell reception in a certain area,
13:09
Speaker 2: So that weather radio may seem, you know, a bit
13:13
Speaker 2: outdated compared to your cell phone, but it's a great
13:16
Speaker 2: backup to have because that thing is loud. It will
13:19
Speaker 2: wake you up in the middle of the night and
13:20
Speaker 2: let you know that something's coming.
13:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, and rather inexp I don't think they're very costly
13:25
Speaker 1: either to have around for the duration, so to speak.
13:30
Speaker 1: I mean, you can use these weather radios for a
13:32
Speaker 1: long period of time and they're really not that costly
13:35
Speaker 1: and in the markets today to purchase a much needed
13:39
Speaker 1: weather radio, especially for our neck of the woods. We
13:41
Speaker 1: are very prone with severe weather right out.
13:44
Speaker 2: I mean we are.
13:46
Speaker 1: Don't you think northern on Thenois kind of rite for
13:48
Speaker 1: severe weather, aren't we?
13:50
Speaker 2: We definitely are. We're kind of right in between those
13:53
Speaker 2: cold air masses coming down from Canada and all of
13:57
Speaker 2: that warm, humid air coming up from the Gulf of Mexico,
14:01
Speaker 2: So we're just like kind of smack dab in the
14:03
Speaker 2: middle of it. And as a result, you know, I
14:05
Speaker 2: don't know we're technically in the heart of Tornado Alley,
14:09
Speaker 2: but we're definitely within an extension of it. So we
14:13
Speaker 2: can see plenty of severe weather. And all it takes
14:15
Speaker 2: is one storm. Even if we just have one bad
14:18
Speaker 2: storm around the storms throughout the whole year, all it
14:22
Speaker 2: takes is one to really kind of mess with your livelihood.
14:25
Speaker 1: One thing that I did not and this is a
14:27
Speaker 1: change of the terminology that we talked about, I believe
14:30
Speaker 1: during the time when we were talking about winter preparedness,
14:32
Speaker 1: Alex cold weather advisories. That's kind of a change in
14:36
Speaker 1: the terminology. We're seeing that these days, aren't.
14:39
Speaker 2: We Yeah, we saw them even just recently with all
14:43
Speaker 2: that Arctic air. So National Weather Service consolidated and rebranded
14:49
Speaker 2: the old like windshill warning and windshill advisory. They basically
14:54
Speaker 2: just kind of clumped it together with another existing term
14:57
Speaker 2: and just said it doesn't matter if it's it doesn't
15:01
Speaker 2: matter if it's the cold. We're just going to call
15:03
Speaker 2: it a cold weather advisory and an extreme cold watch
15:06
Speaker 2: and warning. That way, there's no confusion over well, is
15:10
Speaker 2: it the windshill? Is it the cold? What's the cause here?
15:13
Speaker 2: They're just like, let's just rebrand it as cold.
15:16
Speaker 1: We're not changing though, the terminology for the spring season.
15:19
Speaker 1: Are we Alex too much?
15:21
Speaker 2: We are?
15:22
Speaker 1: No.
15:22
Speaker 2: No, that's going to be very straightforward, watch and warning.
15:26
Speaker 2: Whether it's severe thunderstorms or flash flooding or tornadoes, it's
15:30
Speaker 2: watch and warning.
15:31
Speaker 1: Alex Kirschner is our guest today, are chief mediologist at
15:34
Speaker 1: WRX Television, Rockford. He handles all of our weather chorice
15:36
Speaker 1: evenings and overnights and into the weekends here at WYXN
15:40
Speaker 1: for us, and we appreciate that, of course from our
15:43
Speaker 1: friends at Channel thirteen Alex, we wanted to first of
15:46
Speaker 1: all kind of break down Severe Storms Preparedness Week. We've
15:50
Speaker 1: got spotlighted topics every day of the Severe Storms Preparedness
15:55
Speaker 1: Week starting March the third. Monday, it's a have a
15:58
Speaker 1: plan Tuesday, the focus is on lightning, Wednesday is tornadoes,
16:03
Speaker 1: Thursday is wind and hail, and Friday flooding. This kind
16:08
Speaker 1: of takes care of everything, and it looks like Alex
16:10
Speaker 1: that you can kind of click on to Illinois's Severe
16:14
Speaker 1: Storms Preparedness Week information and kind of learn from these
16:18
Speaker 1: areas daily with information that they're going to share.
16:23
Speaker 2: The National Weather Services have a really nice breakdown on
16:26
Speaker 2: a daily basis of just the different topics you should
16:28
Speaker 2: be reminded of, and I think with all of those,
16:32
Speaker 2: the biggest one to me is that Monday topic is
16:34
Speaker 2: have a plan. Then you're ready for whatever comes next,
16:38
Speaker 2: whether it is lightning or hail or flash flooding. If
16:42
Speaker 2: you have a plan for each of those, you'll be
16:44
Speaker 2: set because there's times where you might not have that
16:48
Speaker 2: much warning, and so it's great to have something in
16:51
Speaker 2: the back of your mind like you're prepared and not
16:53
Speaker 2: scared in those moments.
16:55
Speaker 1: The National Weather Service is also offering up and we
16:58
Speaker 1: want to get into this a little bit before we
17:01
Speaker 1: let Alex go that classes for skyworn spotter training for
17:06
Speaker 1: the spring of twenty twenty five will be coming late
17:09
Speaker 1: February into March, and we've got a couple of these
17:11
Speaker 1: classes in our local area to talk about. Most of
17:15
Speaker 1: them that we have information about are in Whiteside, Stevenson, Carroll,
17:22
Speaker 1: those areas Joe Davies covered with these spotter training courses
17:26
Speaker 1: that will be offered predominantly in the month of March.
17:29
Speaker 1: But Alex, before we get to that, wanted to kind
17:31
Speaker 1: of get your breakdown of weathers spotting. Is it working?
17:36
Speaker 1: First of all, Alex, does weather spotting work in our
17:38
Speaker 1: northern Illinois area For you as a meteorologist, it definitely does.
17:42
Speaker 2: It's really really handy, whether it's verified snow amounts people
17:48
Speaker 2: go out and measure on their personal snowboards or something
17:51
Speaker 2: like that. But then during severe weather, you have people
17:56
Speaker 2: in each of these communities that are trained to go
17:59
Speaker 2: out and measure the sides of the hail, measure how
18:02
Speaker 2: strong the wind gusts are, or even just provide a
18:05
Speaker 2: visual look at what the clouds and the storms and
18:09
Speaker 2: the structures of those are doing. The National Weather Service
18:15
Speaker 2: meterologists at Channel thirteen, we can't be everywhere all at once.
18:20
Speaker 2: We would love to, but that's why we have these
18:23
Speaker 2: storm spotter training classes. The National Weather Service puts those on,
18:27
Speaker 2: they host those, and they train people in the community
18:31
Speaker 2: that show up. And it's also refresher. If you've taken
18:34
Speaker 2: a storm spotter class in the past, they'll train you
18:38
Speaker 2: do this is how you safely identify what's going on
18:41
Speaker 2: with these storms. So that way we can match up
18:44
Speaker 2: this verified, trained volunteer. We can take their information matched
18:50
Speaker 2: up with what we're seeing on radar, and then they
18:52
Speaker 2: can speed up. Sometimes they'll issue warnings earlier because they
18:58
Speaker 2: hear from a storm spotter and they're like, Okay, that
19:00
Speaker 2: verifies what we see on radar. We're going to get
19:02
Speaker 2: that warning out now, rather than waiting for a couple
19:05
Speaker 2: more radar scams for instance.
19:07
Speaker 1: Okay, night and so again. And these are certified. These
19:11
Speaker 1: are you get a certification right, Alex, And once you
19:13
Speaker 1: complete the seminar, you're certified then as a weather spoder.
19:17
Speaker 2: Yes, indeed, it's pretty nice to have if you're very
19:21
Speaker 2: interested in whether you're interested in helping your community, go
19:25
Speaker 2: for it. You'll get a special little training from the
19:29
Speaker 2: National Weather Service. And that's kind of neat to speak.
19:32
Speaker 2: I did manage to find the National Weather Service in Chicago.
19:36
Speaker 2: We'll be coming to Dixon next Tuesday. So Tuesday, March fourth,
19:41
Speaker 2: six to eight pm at Sock Valley Community College. Okay,
19:45
Speaker 2: they'll have a storm spotter training class in Dixon.
19:47
Speaker 1: All right, So that's Tuesday, March the fourth, and that's
19:50
Speaker 1: next Tuesday during Severe Storms Preparedness Week couldn't come into
19:53
Speaker 1: better time. Severe Storms Preparedness Week that they will be
19:56
Speaker 1: offering at Sock Valley Community College from six until nine
19:59
Speaker 1: did you say, Alex, six until eight, six until eate.
20:03
Speaker 1: And this is a free course, no cost. This is
20:06
Speaker 1: a free course that the National Weather Service will offer.
20:09
Speaker 1: So the contact obviously will probably be Stock Valley Community College.
20:14
Speaker 1: I would think, Alex, you get ahold of SVCC for
20:17
Speaker 1: sign up and all that. Probably you know more information.
20:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, it says it's free and open to the public.
20:24
Speaker 2: So as long as you kind of remember the day
20:26
Speaker 2: and time and location, you might be able to just
20:28
Speaker 2: roll in.
20:29
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, Sock Valley Community College on that Tuesday
20:32
Speaker 1: of next week. This is a week from tomorrow at
20:35
Speaker 1: stock Valley Community College between six and eight a sky
20:38
Speaker 1: Warren Spotder training course at stock Valley Community College. Other
20:41
Speaker 1: training courses are being offered in the month of March.
20:44
Speaker 1: On March the twelfth, for Joe Davies and Carroll Counties,
20:47
Speaker 1: they'll be in Hanover, Illinois, Believe it or not, Handover,
20:50
Speaker 1: Illinois at one Commercial Drive. Training will be held at
20:54
Speaker 1: the Joe Davies County Emergency Management Office, one Commercial Drive,
20:58
Speaker 1: Sweet four, Hanover, Illinois, this from six until eight. On Wednesday,
21:01
Speaker 1: March the twelfth, in Stevenson County in Freeport at Highland
21:06
Speaker 1: Community College six thirty until eight thirty, they'll be holding
21:10
Speaker 1: a spotter training course. And in Whiteside County at Erie,
21:14
Speaker 1: Illinois Arie Elementary School in Erie, Illinois, Illinois on Wednesday,
21:18
Speaker 1: March the twenty sixth, from six until eight. These are
21:21
Speaker 1: free weather spotting courses, again offered through the National Weather Service,
21:25
Speaker 1: not storm trackers though Alex right, this is not a
21:28
Speaker 1: storm tracker course, correct.
21:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is for storm spotting in that you
21:35
Speaker 2: show up and sty'll train you to book out your
21:38
Speaker 2: door or out your window and identify what's going on.
21:42
Speaker 2: This is not something that will get you prepared to
21:46
Speaker 2: jump in your van, your truck, your car and then
21:48
Speaker 2: go chasing after these storms. That's never a good idea
21:52
Speaker 2: unless you have an extensive background in meteorology and preferably
21:58
Speaker 2: a degree at you're preferably a researcher, someone that is
22:03
Speaker 2: trained up and as that extensive background to go chasing
22:07
Speaker 2: after storms like that. So never a good idea to chase.
22:10
Speaker 2: It's better to just stay home and spot them.
22:12
Speaker 1: Absolutely, leave those to the professionals that are trained in
22:16
Speaker 1: that area to do the job in that area. But
22:19
Speaker 1: there is if you're interested, and I think a lot
22:21
Speaker 1: more people are interested in whether these days than ever before.
22:23
Speaker 1: Alex to offer up these spoder classes again in our
22:27
Speaker 1: four county area, our listening area in all four counties,
22:30
Speaker 1: there are tracker courses again that are offered through February
22:36
Speaker 1: and predominantly in March. All of those courses that we
22:39
Speaker 1: mentioned are in March, so you have time to again
22:42
Speaker 1: find out more about these storm spotter awareness courses and
22:46
Speaker 1: be certified through the National Weather Service courtesy of that
22:49
Speaker 1: information just shared Alex. We're out of time on the
22:52
Speaker 1: talk line today, just one again brief push into the
22:56
Speaker 1: severe storms preparedness week. What do we need to look for.
23:00
Speaker 2: So over on. Just make sure you keep an eye
23:02
Speaker 2: off of the information from the National Weather Service and
23:04
Speaker 2: always have a plan. Now it's the time to review
23:07
Speaker 2: that plan, go over where you need to take shelter,
23:09
Speaker 2: and just be ready to go when those storms start
23:12
Speaker 2: to pop up.
23:13
Speaker 1: Well. Alex Kershner is our chief meteorologist at WRH Television, Rockford.
23:16
Speaker 1: We appreciate all the good information shared every time we
23:19
Speaker 1: chat with our media wologist Tallex. I know that we'll
23:21
Speaker 1: have more information down the line, but for now,