A weather net is not a conversation. It's a queue of short, structured reports flowing to one person - net control - who passes the ones that matter to the NWS. Everything below is about making your ten seconds useful.
Before you key up
- Listen first. Net control will say whether the net is directed (check in and wait to be called) or taking reports as they come. Follow that.
- Know where you are in words a forecaster can plot: "3 miles south of Sand Springs on Highway 97", not "by the Walmart". Cross streets, mile markers, distance-and-direction from a town.
- Have the time. The time you saw it, not the time you're reporting it.
Checking in
Wait for a break. Say your callsign phonetically, then your location, then whether you have traffic:
Kilo India Five Quebec Romeo Tango, Norman, no traffic, monitoring.
That's it. Net control now knows there's a spotter in Norman if they need one.
The report
Five things, in order. Practise it so it comes out the same way under stress:
- Who - callsign.
- Where - your position, and where the thing is relative to you ("wall cloud two miles to my west").
- When - "at 6:42".
- What - use the training words: rotating wall cloud, funnel cloud not touching down, tornado on the ground, hail quarter-size, wind damage with tree limbs down, water over the road.
- Movement and confidence - "moving northeast, slowly" and "I'm sure" or "possible, can't confirm rotation".
Kilo India Five Quebec Romeo Tango. I'm at Highway 9 and 24th in Norman. At 6:42, wall cloud two miles to my west, rotating, no funnel. Moving northeast. Confident on the rotation.
What not to say
- "It's getting really dark." "Lightning everywhere." "The wind's picking up." None of these are reportable.
- Guesses at hail size. Compare to coins and balls - pea, dime, nickel, quarter, half-dollar, golf ball, tennis ball, baseball. Never "marble".
- Anything you heard on TV. Net control has that too.
- Long descriptions. If they want more, they'll ask.
GMRS, Meshtastic and MeshCore spotters
You don't need a ham licence to be useful. Several areas run a GMRS weather net with a liaison who relays to the ham net; your state hub lists them where they exist. On the mesh, keep reports in the same five-part shape - short text travels further than long text - and let someone with a radio relay. If your local mesh runs a weather bot, use its tag so the message is easy to find.
Afterwards
When net control closes the net, stay off the repeater for a few minutes; the office may call back for details. If you reported something significant, write down what you saw while it's fresh - the NWS sometimes follows up for damage surveys.