However, spotting was still mainly carried out by trained individuals in either the military, aviation, or law enforcement fields of service.
[2] Spotting required the delivery of timely information so that warnings could be issued as quickly as possible, thus civilian landline phone calls and amateur radio operators provided the most efficient and fastest means of communication.
The 1950s saw the deployment of the first dedicated weather radars in the United States, and by this time, civilian spotter networks were commonplace.
The hook echo was a major method used as an indicator for potential for tornadic activity during the first decades of weather radar.
The low noise floor and greatly improved audio quality meant much better signal reception for all stations.
[citation needed] Technological advances such as the Internet, weather radio, pagers, and cell phones have made spotter activation quick and efficient; however, the basic goal of spotting has remained relatively unchanged to this day.
A Skywarn group is either directly or indirectly affiliated or associated with the local weather office, and in many cases other agencies responsible for the well-being of individuals.
Since the 2000s, about a dozen European countries (including the UK) have operated autonomous storm-spotting organizations under the auspices of Skywarn Europe.
Countries in Asia such as Malaysia introduced a Community Service Oriented application called 'RakanMET' which allows volunteer public weather reports/spotting and two-way communication between the public and the Meteorology Department of Malaysia with the live weather report using Global Positioning System (GPS) from the reporter's smartphone.
Schools, hospitals, and other facilities are encouraged to have spotters to alert people in their care of impending severe weather.
Most trained storm spotters in the US are volunteer HAM radio operators that are organized by the National Weather Service and local emergency management groups.
By contrast, storm chasing involves following a developing thunderstorm to view or photograph severe weather phenomena.
He believed that storm spotters are a vital part of the Integrated Warning System since they provide "ground truth verification" for forecasters.
The frequency connects spotters in the field to a network controller who relays reports to a Weather Service forecaster.
The forecaster will consider the spotter reports along with radar, local conditions, and sometimes live video feeds, to determine if a warning should be released to the public.
If a warning is released, it will be sent to various outlets including social media, TV and radio broadcasters, and local emergency managers.