National Severe Weather Awareness Week is observed at the end of the month. However, residents in Adair and Guthrie counties will have an opportunity to learn proper preparation before that. The Adair and Guthrie County Emergency Management Agency will be hosting its Storm Spotter Training Course at the Menlo Community Building on Wednesday, March 21st at 7pm.

This two-hour multimedia presentation will contain information aimed at helping people identify and report severe weather. It will also include spotter safety techniques, Iowa severe weather climatology, thunderstorm structures and threats, and other severe weather related topics. National Weather Service meteorologists will serve as the instructors for the evening.

Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Kempf stresses the importance of everyone being prepared for severe weather. “We have several members of the public, fire departments, (and) law enforcement that attend. We usually average somewhere between 60 and 70 people every year. Between the two counties, every two years we’re training 140-150 individuals to look at the sky and know what’s happening so that we can pass the information onto the National Weather Service.”

The training is free and open to the public. No pre-registration is required.