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The University of Maine at Fort Kent will host a Weather Spotters training session conducted by personnel from the National Weather Service's office in Caribou on Monday, April 8 at 6 p.m. in the Nadeau Hall Teleconference Room on the UMFK campus.

The session is free and open to the general public.

The training session is open to anyone who has an interest in severe weather and/or public service. The objective of the training is to provide the knowledge to identify and report key severe weather features.

Topics expected to be covered during the training include:

· An overview of the National Weather Service and the agency's mission, as well as a review of the NWS Caribou web site.

· Winter weather, including climatology, winter storms, winter storm watches and warnings, proper snow-measuring techniques, and the definition of a blizzard.

· Ice Jams.

· Severe thunderstorms: the life cycle of thunderstorms and the stages of thunderstorm development. What is the definition of a severe thunderstorm? How to recognize the clouds associated with thunderstorms.

· Tornadoes versus funnel clouds.

· Flooding and flash flooding.

· What you need to report to the National Weather Service.

For further information on the Weather Spotters training session, please call 834-7530.