SKYWARN was formed in the early 1970's as a nationwide cooperative effort between the National Weather Service and communities after major tornado outbreaks ravaged many areas. The emphasis of the program is the individual storm spotter; people who take position near their community and reports wind gusts, hail size, rainfall, and cloud formations that could signal a developing tornado. They also assist the NWS by reporting winter weather, flash flooding, coastal flooding, etc.. Sometimes SKYWARN volunteers are needed to effectively distribute NWS information, in the failure of regular communications circuits.

See the NWS and Weather Net pages for more information.