Next month, Coppell residents will have an opportunity to learn how to properly spot severe weather.

A meteorologist from the Fort Worth office of the National Weather Service will be conducting a Basic SKYWARN class from 9 a.m. to noon Feb. 11 at the Coppell Fire Department Training Facility behind Fire Station No. 3.

SKYWARN is program that was established by the NWS to train volunteers throughout the country how to spot and properly report severe weather to help keep their local communities safe. Volunteers in the program help the NWS so it can issue warnings about potentially dangerous weather situations — such as tornadoes and flash floods — more quickly and accurately.

According to a City of Coppell news release, the free training class will cover a variety of topics, including:

• "Basics of thunderstorm development"
• "Fundamentals of storm structure"
• "Identifying potential severe weather features"
• "Information to report"
• "How to report information"
• "Basic severe weather safety"