A National Weather Service Meteorologist is passionately preaching safety to those attending annual storm spotter trainings across the area…..
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….
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….
Heitkamp added that people who lived during the 1950’s and 60’s were more weather conscious than today…..
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.