SKYWARN is a concept developed in the early 1970s that was intended to promote a cooperative effort between the National Weather Service and communities. The emphasis of the effort is often focused on the storm spotter, an individual who takes a position near their community and reports wind gusts, hail size, rainfall, and cloud formations that could signal a developing tornado. Another part of SKYWARN is the receipt and effective distribution of National Weather Service information.
The organization of spotters and the distribution of warning information lies with the National Weather Service or with an emergency management agency within the community. This agency could be a police or fire department, or often is an emergency management/service group (what people might still think of as civil defense groups). This varies across the country however, with local national weather service offices taking the lead in some locations, while emergency management takes the lead in other areas. This chapter is affiliated with the city of Ardmores Emergency Operations Center, and in association with Emergency Management of Murray County. The Southern Oklahoma SKYWARN are licensed radio operators.

You can obtain training and a licence to operate HAM radio through *S.O.A.R.E.S.S.S.*
http://soaresss.org/

Storm Spotting or Storm Tracking is dangerous and should not be attempted without proper training, experience and equipment.

***This Group is for SKYWARN STORM SPOTTERS only***

The SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA SKYWARN GROUP recognizes and complies with municiple and state traffic laws, and does not condone the practice of "tornado chasing" or "core punching" for frivolous entertainment purposes.