the weather in god's country
protecting the national weather service, becoming a citizen scientist, and why people in Oklahoma are built different
Approximately two days after Morgan Wallen begged to be rescued from the horrid streets of NYC and returned to his authentic, grass-roots, God-fearing, 6-level bar in Nashville where you can get a $21 cocktail, my phone buzzed with a tornado warning.
The alert came in while I was on the 14th floor of a downtown Nashville hotel, watching the woo girls come back from the Broadway honky tonks. The lightning reflected off their rhinestone cowboy hats; their assless chaps flapped so violently in the wind that I feared they may take flight.
Although the partiers didn’t seemed phased, I dreaded falling into the trap of a tourist who doesn’t take the weather seriously. My iPhone weather app1 told me to be prepared, and I know jack-shit about tornados, so I did what any person would: I Googled. That’s how I found Nashville Severe Weather, a YouTube live stream where several men—not meteorologists, just local weather nerds and their intern—tracked the storm system with near street-by-street precision. Downtown Nashville would be fine, they said. I was clear to go to bed.
Nashville Severe Weather is a side gig and a passion project. They all have full time jobs that aren’t weather-related. They just like weather and reporting about their community—which they do every time there is severe weather, going live on YouTube, pushing out alerts on social media and offering resources and safety advice.
This may be a hobby, but they’re using hi-tech modeling devices, have in-depth knowledge, and are tapped into the professional weather community. In 2016, they actually won an award from the National Weather Association for their public service. When the Nashville area was hit by tornados in 2020, it’s estimated that the Nashville Severe Weather team directly saved at least 25 lives with their reporting, if not more. And the impact they have on mental stability and storm anxiety is incalculable.
They broadcast from their homes, stopping occasionally to get more coffee or go wake up their families, put helmets in their kids and hunker down in a bathroom. They are translating extremely complex weather data into easily digestible, highly-relevant information. They may not be meteorologists, but they’re meteorological interpreters, and the community loves them.
Four days later, I found myself hunkered in a bathroom as tornado warning after warning screeched through my phone. Over the course of four hours, we received five tornado warnings, which were then replaced by hours of flash flood warnings. The outdoor sirens were going nearly nonstop. I turned on my laptop to see that the Nashville Severe Weather team had been livestreaming since midnight. They ended up staying on until 7 a.m., conducting their own filibuster of community service. That livestream racked up over 500,000 views. I fell asleep on the bathroom floor to the sound of their voices.
It’s easy to undervalue forecasting when you live in an area with predictable, non-severe weather. As a resident of the mid-Atlantic, I know how to manage freak blizzards or King Tide winter storms. But tornados? Tornado watches fizzle out before they come anywhere near my suburban home. Tornados are a thing that happen to other people, that are almost mythical in their existence. They come down out of nowhere, appearing as fast as they disappear, and in a millisecond, lives are changed.
I texted a friend who lives in Oklahoma City, humbled. I don’t know how she does it, I told her. I don’t know how she isn’t a constant ball of anxiety. I just don’t have it in me.
The dismantling of weather science
March marks the start of tornado season for a large swath of the country. Last year was prolific tornado year, and this year may be the same. As of April 2025, tornados have already destroyed homes and a school in Oklahoma, and storm-related deaths have been reported in Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas and Indiana. AP News is estimating that 23 people were killed in weather-related events in the first week of April alone.
Despite challenges and staffing shortages, the weather was well predicted, with warnings issued far in advance. Without these warnings, the death toll could have been far higher than 23.
A common credo of capitalism is the idea that if you privatize public services, the economy will grow. This is allegedly part of the rational behind the Trump administration’s wide-ranging layoffs and budget cuts. Almost no department and agency has been safe, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its offshoot, the National Weather Service.
Right now, nearly half of all NWS offices have a 20% vacancy rate. Some offices are missing more than 35% of their staff. According to PBS, 23 offices have no meteorologist-in-charge, and 16 offices don’t have anyone in the role dedicated to alerting emergency officials and the public. The Houston office has neither of these roles. Houston, as you may recall, tends to flood.
This means that the scientists, interpreters, modelers and field reporters are missing. This means limited resources to send up weather balloons that can help predict incoming weather. It means our top weather service is lacking the capacity to warn people about droughts, freezes, fires, tornados, thunderstorms, floods and other severe weather events. This means death and destruction.
These understaffed offices did a fantastic job warning about the recent weather. But we’re only a week into April. Tornado season is just getting started.
The problem with privatizing weather science is that there is no money in weather. Safety is not sexy. A $9.99 app will not fund weather satellites. Severe weather largely occurs in areas of the country where poverty is at its highest, and these communities don’t have the funds to pay for durable infrastructure, no less high-quality, street-by-street data. Billionaires are not made from community reporting.
The attacks on science, on climate change advocates, on public services and data-based truth are almost too monumental to consider. What can you do? How can you stop it? Where do you even begin?
The truth is that we likely can’t stop it. Not all of it, not alone. To protect the National Weather Service—or any agency, service, law, or right currently being gutted—we need more people. We need more money. We need a nationwide acceptance and understanding of the important work they do. We need to oust an entire administration. We need to turn the tide of American individualism. We need to elect an administration that understands that science is important. We need to grapple with the reasons why this administration has been allowed to flourish. We need to dismantle society and build it back up from the ground level. We need to have a public reckoning.
That’s just a bit too much for me to do this month. I’ve got to do my laundry and file my taxes.
But what we can do, on a personal, individual level, is acknowledge the importance of community science and get involved. As government organizations and science grants get slashed, the remaining funded scientists, community advocates and volunteer researchers are going to be bearing more and more of the brunt. They need more people—which means they need us.
how to become the local weather girl
If you have advanced modeling software, meteorological know-how and a YouTube account, you could follow the Nashville Severe Weather model. But if, like me, you can’t read a Doppler radar, there’s loads of other ways to get involved.2
1. Measure rain with CoCoRaHS
CoCoRaHS is a fantastic program with a terrible acronym. The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network is a non-profit, community-based network of volunteers that measure and map precipitation. No prior experience required. Volunteers use low-cost equipment (their recommended rain gauge is $42) and are taught how to report their findings using a simple website.
Data collection is straightforward: put out your rain gauge, empty it daily, and report your measurements via the website. CoCoRaHS data is used by the National Weather Service, the National Centers for Environmental Information, engineers, farmers, teachers and many others.
Per their website, “Every morning many organizations pull data from the CoCoRaHS database at least every hour to get all the latest reports as they come in. … When you see forecasts of river stages and flood levels on the Missouri, the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Colorado River or most anywhere else in the country—guess what data are helping the forecasters make these forecasts? Yes, timely CoCoRaHS data! Your reports of hail or heavy rain may trigger the NWS to issue severe thunderstorm or flash flood warnings. In cases of extreme localized storms, your local report could help save lives.”
Learn more about CoCoRaHS at their website, and consider becoming an observer. It’s a semi-passive activity, and would also be a great hobby to force on your retired parents.
2. Become a storm spotter
Here’s an activity your grandpa would love to do with you: storm watching. The NWS’s SKYWARN® Storm Spotter Program utilizes thousands of volunteers who are trained to provide timely and accurate severe weather reports to the NWS. Much of the reporting focuses on severe thunderstorms, though watchers also report on tornados and flash floods.
Becoming a Storm Spotter is relatively easy—just enroll in a free training class in your area to get started. Many of these classes are offered virtually, and last about two hours. During that time, you will learn about thunderstorm development and structure, how to identify severe weather features, what and how to report data, and weather safety basics. From there, you will have access to more advanced classes.
If you’re curious but don’t want to commit to being a Storm Spotter just yet, they also offer a free online module you can check out (though additional training may be required in your area if you become a fully registered Spotter).
Again, there is no background or pre-existing educational requirement. Per their website, “NWS encourages anyone with an interest in public service to join the SKYWARN® program. Volunteers include police and fire personnel, dispatchers, EMS workers, public utility workers and other concerned private citizens. Individuals affiliated with hospitals, schools, churches and nursing homes or who have a responsibility for protecting others are encouraged to become a spotter.”
3. Download the mPING app
Behold the easiest of all community weather reporting: the mPING app. Developed by the National Severe Storms Laboratory and the University of Oklahoma,3 mPING uses our smart phones and GPS functionality to collect anonymous weather observation reports. This data is used to improve weather mapping models, and some NWS offices use it to refine their predictions. In addition, the data helps researchers create more accurate algorithms.
Using the app is literally as easy as opening it, selecting what type of weather you’re reporting, and hitting send. You can report almost any kind of weather, including “none.” I’ve had this app for about two years, and I feel sooooo smart every time I report rain.
4. Get involved with your local scientists
Being a citizen scientist is exactly what it says on the tin—it’s volunteering and a bit of education that empowers you to make a difference without an advanced degree or full-time career. Citizen science is the backbone of many community research projects, and I guarantee there is one that you can help out with.
NOAA (as of right now) manages a Citizen Science Community where they catalogue volunteer projects that are open to the public. In 2022 over 500,000 citizen scientists contributed 1.3 million volunteer hours to NOAA projects. Currently, NOAA has more than 40 active projects in its catalogue, many of which are actively seeking volunteers. To find a NOAA-supported project, visit citizenscience.gov/catalogue and filter by agency. These projects are largely localized, so you may have to dig to find ones in your area.
For a broader selection of citizen science projects, you can forego the filters and peruse over 500 projects within the system. These projects range from using an app to help the Smithsonian and NASA monitor water in the Chesapeake Bay to helping NASA classify radio signals from distant stars and planetary systems—all from your computer. I lost almost two hours to this the other night, because they’ve set it up like a highly addictive matching game.
5. Throw Trump off the roof of Chief’s bar/show up for science
The Trump administration is slashing, burning, and throwing everything at us in a tornado of confusion. The point is to be exhausted and overwhelmed. The point is to be so terrified for our basic human rights that we are willing to overlook the dismantling of infrastructure, courts, programs and services that help our nation function. We can’t fight it all. Each of us has to narrow our focus, to find the things we can impact, can change, and can advocate for. Most of us won’t dedicate our precious time and resources to weather science—but some of us will.
So if you like weather or love someone in Oklahoma, download a goddamn app, buy your dad a rain gauge, and get involved in community weather science. And also watch Twisters, because it’s actually better than the original.4
Fun fact, the iPhone weather app has bought out my favorite weather app, DarkSky, and you now have a very powerful modeling system in your pocket. If you want more in-depth weather tracking though, my two go-to sites are Pivotal Weather (by the University of Oklahoma) and AccuWeather.
If you, like me, are a relative weather newbie, this article from the National Weather Association Foundation is a great starter on which tools to use and how to learn more about weather mapping.
In case it’s not clear yet, I would trust anyone from Oklahoma with my life in a severe weather situation. Luke Combs is wrong—there is love in Oklahoma, and it’s between me and all their weather scientists. And me and Lee Pace. And Bill Hader. And Garth Brooks.
But seriously, if you’re in a crowded theatre and a tornado is coming, find the person from OKC and stick to them. They will talk to you about BBQ, but your life is worth it.
I said what I said, sorry Bill Paxton. RIP.