Storm Spotter Training Held In De Smet

 A National Weather Service Meteorologist is passionately preaching safety to those attending annual storm spotter trainings across the area…..

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Todd Heitkamp was in De Smet last night and Mitchell Monday.  He’s has conducted storm spotter training for first-responders, business, and community members for over 20 years and remains frustrated why people fail to take shelter when a warning is issued. He says people have become so fixated on watching and recording an approaching tornado, they put themselves and loved ones in danger….

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Heitkamp challenged the group to explain why they don’t take shelter when a warning is issued. The responses ranged from curiosity to skepticism. He says that needs to change….

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Heitkamp added that people who lived during the 1950’s and 60’s were more weather conscious than today…..

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He dedicated this year’s presentation to his friend, and well-known storm chaser Tim Samaras who died last year in a devastating tornado outbreak in Oklahoma. Heitkamp urged the group to be storm spotters and not storm chasers.