Jamie Belisle reads the signs in the sky
By Justin Tiemeyer - Contributing Writer
13 Feb. 2025
Love for, and trust, in the Detroit Lions had never been higher than during the first half of January 2025. Ahead of the NFL Championship playoff game, scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 18, Jamie Belisle posted in the Lowell MI Community Chatter Facebook group, warning those attending, to leave for Detroit on Friday night or Saturday before noon. Her reasoning:
“The potential is there for a flash freeze in areas where more rain will fall because of our warmer temps before they plunge Saturday night down to a high of only 12. I’m not saying it’s 100% going to happen, but the potential remains high for areas between here and Detroit.”
Belisle regularly begins her posts with the announcement, “Weather nerd here,” but Belisle is more than a mere hobbyist. She is a SKYWARN spotter, a volunteer trained by the National Weather Service, who supports meteorologists and other professionals by reporting weather phenomena as it happens. She also operates the Lowell MI Weather Updates Facebook page, where she shares news on what people can expect from the weather outside.
“Weather has always been fascinating for me,” Belisle said. “I never really wanted to go into meteorology. As an adult, I know it’s more than TV news.”
In her youth, Belisle played in her school’s marching band, which involved hours outside, staring up at the sky. “It was amazing just watching the thunderstorms roll off of the lake,” Belisle said, and she could predict when the rain would hit, just about down to the second. “I can’t do it anymore, because I’m not outside constantly.”
Belisle regularly begins her posts with the announcement, “Weather nerd here,” but Belisle is more than a mere hobbyist. She is a SKYWARN spotter, a volunteer trained by the National Weather Service, who supports meteorologists and other professionals by reporting weather phenomena as it happens.
These days, Belisle is a data scientist, typically a screen-heavy, indoor career, which explains why she does not have as much time to stare up at the sky. However, it is a convenient career pathway for a SKYWARN spotter, as weather forecasting requires many of the same skills.
Before Belisle was a data scientist, she taught English, and her teaching instinct emerges any time you talk to her. She spent much of her time with the Lowell Ledger describing how others can become SKYWARN spotters as well. “Basically, anybody is welcome and invited to take the training,” Belisle said.
The training process involves a series of in-person or online classes. Belisle detailed these classes as both more complex and more practical than what most people learn about weather in high school science classes and then casually forget over time. The classes exist, not just to scratch the itch of an attendee’s curiosity; after all, the goal is to train a network of people to assist the National Weather Service in accurately identifying and predicting weather conditions.
“What should I report?” and “When should I report it?” are two of the biggest questions addressed by the training. In Michigan, Belisle noted, it is incredibly important to measure the size of hail, along with the specifics of where it is spotted. Belisle recalled a memory of hearing from her parents, on the east side of the state, that there was a hailstorm, so she asked them to measure it. The hail was two inches in diameter, indicating that her parents were experiencing a severe thunderstorm, and Belisle knew that was the sort of thing she needed to report.
When asked if she reports weather phenomena out of love or fear, Belisle responded, “I’m more drawn to it. I’ve never really been afraid of storms.” Growing up on the east side of the state, she experienced a tornado every summer, and she got so used to this pattern that she knew what to look for. She warns people to stay safe, especially if they do not know what they are looking for, but she also recounted wanting to see each of those tornadoes up close.
Though Belisle is not afraid of inclement weather, she could see the benefit of SKYWARN spotter training for those who are, because education and understanding are powerful tools against fear.
Belisle shared a couple of websites for people interested in assisting the National Weather Service as SKYWARN spotters. The first is kcest.org/skywarn, the Kent County Emergency Services Team website that explains SKYWARN spotting and sets people up with opportunities to take classes and participate. The second is miskywarn.org, a similar resource that shares important information from across the state.
