MIKE MOSS SAYS:      Rick and Julie,     I take it you're referring to the spotter program in which the National Weather Service conducts training programs on observing and reporting severe weather events. The basic starting point for participating in the program is to sign up for a training session and go forward from there in terms of either calling in reports via cell phone or (more traditionally) as a ham radio operator. There is also a more recently formed program called the CoCoRAHS network that you can participate in to provide semi-official precipitation measurements. You can learn much more about both through the following web addresses:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/rah/skywarn/

http://www.cocorahs.org/

http://centralcarolinaskywarn.net/

Good luck, and thanks for wanting to help!