As the tornado headed toward Stoughton in August 2005, Dale "Bernie " Bernstein was behind the wheel of his truck heading out to "meet and greet " the storm. He ended up within 75 yards of that destructive tornado.

From his truck, he relayed the details he witnessed to his colleague, Chad Woodward, who was at Dane County 's Emergency Operations Center.

In the lingo of weather spotters, Bernstein was conveying "ground truth information. " Because of such early sightings of rotating wall clouds, according to Woodward, local sirens went off several times before the Stoughton tornado spun up, even slightly in advance of a targeted warning from the National Weather Service.

Storm investigators Woodward and Bernstein lead a team that the pros call one of the most organized and best trained spotter groups in operation -- and it is based in Dane County.

MidWest Severe Storm Tracking/Response Center has 24-7 coverage, its own FM radio frequency, strict protocols, monthly meetings and a formalized relationship with Dane County. They have four "base camps " and trucks that go mobile tracking storms. And while they view protecting public safety as their duty, this is a non-profit network of volunteers, operating in their spare time around their "real " jobs.

"Nobody gets paid, " said Bernstein, the group 's president. "It 's a great level of commitment among our members. "

The pros willingly admit that they rely on these volunteer spotters to help protect public safety.

"Radar can only tell you what appears to be happening in the clouds, " said J. McLellan of Dane County Emergency Management. "That is why the information spotters provide us from the ground is so important. They collect information in a timely manner and deliver it in a way it can be used. We rely on MidWest and I 'm glad they 're there. "

Spotters in training

MidWest 's trackers are among the most intense, trained and dedicated spotters. But the National Weather Service seeks spotters of varying degrees of commitment to aide them when issuing warnings or watches. Each year it offers spotter classes, which are increasingly standing-room-only events. Rusty Kapela, NWS warning coordination meteorologist, teaches these classes and sees people from all walks of life who become spotters.

"I 've got nurses, lawyers, law enforcement, doctors, mechanics, school teachers -- no one group stands out, " Kapela said. "They 're as young as 16 up to grandmothers and grandfathers. "

This year he expects that before classes end on Tuesday, he 'll have had about 2,200 people attend. "That 's been our average (number of people) the last few years, " Kapela said. "It was much less when I first started doing the classes 15 years ago. "

Being a spotter, can take as little effort as attending a basic spotter class, registering as an eSpotter (http://espotter.weather.gov) on the Internet and then filing an online report on the size of the hail you see in your back yard. What is mandatory is training to make sure the report is accurate.

Kapela 's March 31 severe weather spotter class in the Stoughton High School auditorium attracted more than 80 people, despite thick fog and lightning outside. Revving up his two-hour slide show for new and basic spotters, Kapela began with this mandate: "You need to totally, totally erase in your mind what tornado and funnel clouds are. We need you to relearn what they 're about. "

Two hours later, attendees know that tornados can be invisible and can be separate from funnel clouds. And Kapela had gone to great lengths to distinguish between funnel clouds and "SLCs, " his creative trade jargon for "Scary Looking Clouds. " He spends a lot of time on SLCs because less experienced spotters frequently report these as tornados. Instead, the class was instructed to look for rotating wall clouds and swirling ground debris.

Accurately identifying cloud features is one of biggest challenges of a spotter gig. In addition to reporting online or to an unlisted Weather Service number, spotters can contact ham radio operators, television stations or even call 911. Things he said to report are flash floods, straight-line damaging winds, hail, damaging lightning and tornados. In all cases spotters need to give the TLCS or time, location, condition and source of information in a concise and precise method.

"We can literally get 100, 200, even 300 reports from our 20 counties, maybe more, " said Kapela. "We operate a lot on faith, but we look for catch phrases like I 'm a trained severe weather spotter. ' "

Home base

The basement walls of Bernstein 's Monona home are covered with maps and a shelf holds five televisions. Four computers bring up various radar, satellite and mapping programs. And there 's plenty of radio and cell-phone gear on hand. This is one of four "base camps " run by MidWest -- a miniature version of the National Weather Service headquarters located inside members ' homes.

While these veteran board members have hair-raising tales of encounters with severe storms, they say they spend a lot of tedious down time in these cramped quarters monitoring radar and satellite images on the lookout for possible danger that often does not materialize. This work takes patience.

"When you go out tracking take a newspaper and toilet paper, " Bernstein joked. "The first is if you 're bored, the second is if you 're not. "

"And core is a sense of duty, " said Tim Shriver, a MidWest 's chief operations officer. "We have a lot of people dedicated to public service. "

Midwest has about 35 active members, as well as less involved associate members. But don 't mistakenly call them "chasers. " This focus on public safety, they pointed out, is what differentiates them from chasers who are in it for the rush or to snap a dramatic photo.

While MidWest has been incorporated as a nonprofit for just more than two years, its core members have been involved in weather spotting for much longer, many for decades. In addition to strict protocols and experience, these trackers do well because they keep a constant eye on radar, taking shifts on call to try to get out ahead of any storms.

"Most groups are reactive, responding once a warning or watch is issued, " Shriver said. "We try to be the cause of a warning to meet and greet a storm as it crosses the line into our area if not sooner. "

The pros shop

Kapela jokes that his headquarters resembles a Taco Bell on the outside, but the 28-foot-diameter radar ball sitting next to the National Weather Service headquarters in Sullivan, 60 miles southeast of Madison, betrays that it is a high-tech operation responsible for monitoring the weather for 20 counties in southeastern and south-central Wisconsin.

Kapela called MidWest, "the biggest organized spotter group that I know of, " but there are many others that report to the weather service in Sullivan, including 12 groups of amateur radio operators. He said it isn 't necessary to join a group to be a spotter, "although there are benefits " like training and information sharing.

Groups are also less likely to make false reports. Kapela estimated he gets about three-dozen false reports each summer storm season. Most are mistaken "Scary Looking Clouds, " although last year Sullivan was among the stations that received several dozen intentionally false reports sent from the same computer.

This caused the National Weather Service to call in the FBI to investigate, likening it to a false bomb threat. That case, Kapela said, is still under investigation.

During a severe storm Kapela said he averages four or five dozen spotter calls and 100 or more e-mail reports but he stressed he can always use more spotters.

"I 'm not aware of spotters getting into vehicle accidents due to having too many spotters being on the same scene. "

In fact, a call to the National Weather Service to complain that sirens had not gone off before a tornado hit near Belleville in the early 1990s is how Woodward said he got involved: "I asked them, Don 't you have spotters? ' And they told me, Well we do, but we don 't have enough. Would you like to become one? ' "

And Kapela underscored spotters pivotal role.

"Don 't assume that I know that you have baseball-size hail in your backyard, " Kapela said. "The ground-truth information you have may be the reason that a warning is issued. "

Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week

Monday through Friday is Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week in Wisconsin for 2008.

Drill Day is Thursday with a mock tornado watch issued at 1 p.m. and a mock warning in southern Wisconsin at 1:20 p.m. If severe weather is present that day, the drill will be postponed until Friday.