LUMBERTON — The National Weather Service is looking for residents in the Robeson County area who will volunteer to become SKYWARN spotters.

The SKYWARN program is intended to teach people what, and how, to report potentially life-saving weather information to the National Weather Service in a timely manner. As part of that, the service is partnering with The Robesonian for a free training program on Tuesday to inform people how to be volunteers. It will begin at 2 p.m. at The Robesonian, located at 2175 Roberts Ave. The program is expected to last about an hour. Light refreshments will be provided.

Although SKYWARN spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, the main responsibility of a spotter is to identify and describe severe local storms, according to a information provided by the National Weather Service.

The training covers the basic factors related to severe weather, including thunderstorm development, types of thunderstorm hazards, and a focus on weather safety during storms. Specifically, the training includes: fundamentals of severe weather; hazardous weather types; how to report information to the National Weather Service; and emphasis on weather safety.