SKYWARN Newsletter #209

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Hello to all...

Newsletter with SKYWARN Activation Reports to Follow Soon....

Hurricane Isabel Slams Mid-Atlantic Coast, Fringe Effects Felt Elsewhere...

Severe Weather Still Runs Below Normal in Southern New England...

Southern New England Weather Conference Saturday November 1st, 2003...

Analysis of Severe Weather that Affected Eastern NY on 7/21/03...

Review of the NWS Taunton Technical Committee Meeting...

SKYWARN Appreciation Day Update...

Hams Assist with Hurricane Claudette in Texas...

Hams Assist with Hurricane Fabian in Bermuda...

Hams Assist with Hurricane Isabel Along the US East Coast...

***Newsletter Issued 9/21/03.

Newsletter with SKYWARN Activation Reports to Follow Soon....

A newsletter detailing all of the SKYWARN Activations from Mid-July to

the present will be posted within the next couple of weeks.

Hurricane Isabel Slams Mid-Atlantic Coast, Fringe Effects Felt Elsewhere...

Hurricane Isabel slammed the Middle Atlantic Coast from North Carolina

and Virginia to the Maryland, Delaware and Southern New Jersey with

hurricane force winds, 5-10 inches of rain and storm surge flooding

across the Outer Banks of North Carolina and the main coastlines of

Virginia and North Carolina. Some of the worst storm surge flooding

was in the Chesepeake Bay area causing major problems in the Baltimore

area. Isabel claimed 29 lives across her path. Despite weakening from

a Category 5 to a Category 2 hurricane, Isabel packed a strong punch

over much of the region. Luckily, Isabel weakened prior to landfall.

The following are links to information from the affected area during

Hurricane Isabel. These reports are provided by the NWS Forecast

Offices in Newport, Nortrh Carolina, Raleigh, North Carolina and

Philadelphia Pennsylvania. When further reports from other NWS Forecast

Offices in Virginia and Maryland become available, it will be posted

in the next SKYWARN Newsletter:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/mhx/HurricaneIsabel.html

http://www2.ncsu.edu/eos/service/pams/meas/sco/research/nws/cases/20030918/20030918.html

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/phi/storms/09182003.html

Just to the west across New York State and New Jersey, Tropical Storm

Warnings were posted through Moriches Inlet, New York and strong winds

caused damage to trees and power lines in the higher terrain of New

York State and across portions of New Jersey, particularly the southern

portions of New Jersey.

Across Southern New England, fringe effects were felt with .50-1.5"

of rain and very rough seas and winds up to 40-45 MPH. A capsized

sailboat from the rough seas was reported in Shaw's Cove in Fairhaven,

Massachusetts at 1:05 PM on Friday and a person was killed in Rhode

Island as he was drowned from the rough surf and rip currents. Southern

New England escaped more serious consequences from Isabel and special

thanks to all those who monitored the track of Isabel over the course

of the last week.

From an Amateur Radio perspective, it is noted that a strong mix of

HF, VHF/UHF Operations, Echolink and IRLP operations were utilized

during this hurricane and with little interruption from the hurricane.

A whitepaper will be constructed on their operations, particularly from

an IRLP and Echolink perspective and will appear in a future SKYWARN

Newsletter.

Severe Weather Still Runs Below Normal in Southern New England...

Severe Weather for the 2003 season continues to run well below

a 10 year average of severe weather reporting per statistics from

the publication Storm Data for prior years and per Local Storm

Reports from NWS Taunton for 2003.

Storm Data is a publication where all severe weather reports are

compiled from local National Weather Service Forecast Offices and

the Storm Prediction Center and compiled as a reference book for

storm related damage. Storm Data contains both winter and summer time

information. The data generated from Storm Data comes from YOUR timely

severe weather reporting to the National Weather Service forecast

office for the protection of life and property!!

The National Climate Data Center assists with creating Storm Data and

has made available a free site where spotter reports can be queried

on from the Storm Data archive. The link to this site is listed below:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/sd/

The following is a state-by-state breakdown for the NWS Taunton County

Warning Area with the exception of Massachusetts where Berkshire County

from NWS Albany's area was included for ease of compiling the data.

After the state-by-state breakdown, the total number of reports were

added together from each state and the total composite for the region

appears after the state-by-state breakdown. Please note the following

assumptions in reviewing the data:

-All reports are of wind measurements 58 MPH or greater, wind damage

from thunderstorms or Hail 3/4" in Diameter or larger.

-Damage from tropical systems was no taken into account in this data.

-Flash Flood Reports were NOT included.

-All data was compiled from Storm Data and are leveraged from Local

Storm Report products which are derived from YOUR reports.

-It is possible that some severe weather reports for certain areas

were combined if the reports were close to each other geographically

or there were errors in having the data transferred from the NWS

products into Storm Data.

-Numbers were compiled manually and may have slight errors.

-It is noted that the number of spotters has increased substantially

over the past 10 years and may be resulting in higher numbers of

reports that went undetected 10 years ago.

-Some years slightly outside of the 1993-2003 timeframe were analyzed

to see if they compared to 2003 and those years had more reports than

this year to date.

-Data for the summer of 2003 is not in Storm Data and was compiled from

NWS Taunton Local Storm Reports and information from forecasters.

Here are the reports by state and the total number of severe reports

across the specified area and amount of reports through July 11th

of each year:

Massachusetts Data (Including Berkshire County, Mass.):

1993: 26 Total Severe Weather Reports

1994: 74 Total Severe Weather Reports

1995: 102 Total Severe Weather Reports

1996: 59 Total Severe weather Reports

1997: 114 Total Severe Weather Reports

1998: 131 Total Severe Weather Reports

1999: 78 Total Severe Weather Reports

2000: 97 Total Severe Weather Reports

2001: 113 Total Severe Weather Reports

2002: 93 Total Severe Weather Reports

2003: 44 Total Severe Weather Reports as of 9/21/03.

Rhode Island Data:

1993: 2 Total Severe Weather Reports

1994: 8 Total Severe Weather Reports

1995: 21 Total Severe Weather Reports

1996: 7 Total Severe Weather Reports

1997: 20 Total Severe Weather Reports

1998: 9 Total Severe Weather Reports

1999: 6 Total Severe Weather Reports

2000: 14 Total Severe Weather Reports

2001: 4 Total Severe Weather Reports

2002: 7 Total Severe Weather Reports

2003: 2 Total Severe Weather Reports as of 9/21/03.

Southern New Hampshire Data: (Cheshire and Hillsborough Counties Only)

1993: 1 Total Severe Weather Report

1994: 8 Total Severe weather Reports

1995: 5 Total Severe Weather Reports

1996: 6 Total Severe Weather Reports

1997: 12 Total Severe Weather Reports

1998: 24 Total Severe Weather Reports

1999: 8 Total Severe Weather Reports

2000: 9 Total Severe Weather Reports

2001: 9 Total Severe weather Reports

2002: 16 Total Severe Weather Reports

2003: 5 Total Severe Weather Reports as of 9/21/03.

Connecticut Data: (Hartford, Tolland and Windham Counties Only)

1993: 8 Total Severe Weather Reports

1994: 17 Total Severe Weather Reports

1995: 31 Total Severe Weather Reports

1996: 13 Total Severe Weather Reports

1997: 17 Total Severe Weather Reports

1998: 7 Total Severe Weather Reports

1999: 20 Total Severe Weather Reports

2000: 20 Total Severe Weather Reports

2001: 16 Total Severe Weather Reports

2002: 23 Total Severe Weather Reports

2003: 8 Total Severe Weather Reports as of 9/21/03.

Total Severe Weather Reports from Massachusetts (Including Berkshire

County), Rhode Island, Connecticut (Hartford, Tolland and Windham

Counties), and Southern New Hampshire (Cheshire and Hillsborough

Counties):

1993: 37 Total Severe Weather Reports

1994: 107 Total Severe Weather Reports

1995: 159 Total Severe Weather Reports

1996: 85 Total Severe Weather Reports

1997: 163 Total Severe Weather Reports

1998: 171 Total Severe Weather Reports

1999: 112 Total Severe Weather Reports

2000: 140 Total Severe Weather Reports

2001: 142 Total Severe Weather Reports

2002: 139 Total Severe Weather Reports

2003: 59 Total Severe Weather Reports as of 9/21/03.

Per the above data, we remain well below any of the last

10 years for severe weather except for 1993, where only 37 total

severe weather reports were received to date. Barring any early Fall

Severe Weather Outbreaks, 2003 is expected to be the lowest number

of severe weather reports since 1993 and only the third year in the

last ten years where the total number of severe weather reports was

below 100 total reports.

Southern New England Weather Conference Saturday November 1st, 2003...

The Southern New England Weather Conference is Saturday November 1st,

2003 at the Mount Wachusett Ski Resort in Princeton, Massachusetts.

This is the fourth annual conference and the second consecutive year

at the Mount Wachusett Ski Resort in Princeton, Massachusetts. The

conference runs from 7:30 AM-9 PM and includes Breakfast, Lunch,

and Dinner. Regular registration is 60 dollars for general admission

and 50 dollars for student admission through October 15th. Registration

rates go up after October 15th. Details on ways to sign up for this

conference and what topics will be presented at this conference are

at the following link:

http://www.bluehill.org/snewc/info.html

Analysis of Severe Weather that Affected Eastern NY on 7/21/03...

On July 21st, 2003, Areas of New York State and Pennsylvania were

affected by a significant and severe Mesoscale Convective System

that caused numerous tornadoes, significant wind damage, large hail,

and flash flooding. This convective system made it as far east as

Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut west of the CT River

Valley and Southern Vermont causing wind damage in parts of this area

including extreme western parts of the NWS Taunton County Warning Area.

The hardest hit areas were the NWS Albany, NY and Binghamton, NY

County Warning Areas. A detailed NCEP analysis on this event can

be seen at the following link:

http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/roth/landcane.html

A brief analysis with pictures of the damage that occurred with this

system can be seen off the following link provided by NWS Albany, NY:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/aly/Past/21July03/july_21.htm

Review of the NWS Taunton Technical Committee Meeting...

The NWS Taunton Technical Committee met on Monday August 4th to discuss

various technical enhancements to the Amateur Radio station at NWS

Taunton. The following enhancements will be completed:

-Thank You to The NWS Taunton Technical Staff

A special thank you was given to the NWS Taunton Technical Staff for

all their support through various moves of the Ham station, work on

the HF setup, and upgrades to the PC for SKYWARN usage. If it were

not for their support, the current Ham setup at NWS Taunton would

not be possible.

-Internet Access

Due to security concerns, NWS Taunton has agreed to purchase a dial-up

Internet connection for the PC at the NWS Taunton SKYWARN desk. This

will be purchased after 10/1/2003. This will allow SKYWARN Operations

to have access to radar, Instant Messenger programs, email, and the

Amateur Radio Voice Over IP system called Echolink, in addition, to

the Voice Over IP access to IRLP via radio.

-New HF Radio

Carl Aveni-N1FY has donated an Icom IC-735 HF Radio to the station.

The proper signoff loop for the donation has been established and

this radio will be placed into service if long-haul communications

is required on an interim basis until proper authorization is received

by upper echelons within NWS. Once proper authorization is received,

the Icom IC-735 HF Radio can be utilized in addition to the Alinco

DX-70-TH radio and allow for monitoring of 2 different HF frequencies

or 6 Meters on the Alinco radio, and HF on the Icom radio.

Details on the progress of these upgrades to the Amateur Radio station

will follow in later SKYWARN Newsletter updates.

SKYWARN Appreciation Day Update...

For the second consecutive year, NWS Taunton will be a part of the

SKYWARN Appreciation Day. The event runs from Friday December 5th at

7 PM and will end Saturday December 6th at 7 PM (December 6th 0000-2400 UTC)

At this time, the present plan is to operate Friday Evening from roughly

7 PM-Midnight and Saturday from 7 AM-7 PM. Operations will be conducted

on HF, 6 Meters, 2 Meters, 440 MHz, IRLP and Echolink.

The latest map of participating NWS Forecast Offices along with

operations from past SKYWARN Appreciation Day events can be seen at

the following link:

http://hamradio.noaa.gov/

Future updates on SKYWARN Appreciation Day will follow in later SKYWARN

Newsletters.

Hams Assist with Hurricane Claudette in Texas...

The following is an article from the ARRL Letter on Hams Assisting

with Hurricane Claudette in Texas back in July:

==>HAMS AID CLAUDETTE RELIEF, CLEANUP EFFORTS

Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) teams and other ham radio

volunteers continue to aid relief organizations in Texas in the aftermath

of Hurricane Claudette. The Category 1 hurricane surprised the Texas coast

July 15 by its earlier-than-predicted arrival and its unexpected ferocity.

Winds were reported at 80 to 85 MPH, and at least two people died as a

result of Claudette's fury. ARRL South Texas Section Manager Ray Taylor,

N5NAV, says solar weather hampered Amateur Radio emergency and relief

traffic via HF nets.

"Communications have really been bad due to solar flares," Taylor said

earlier in the week. "We're using relays out of Mississippi and Alabama."

Taylor also praised the hams who volunteered and pointed out that some

were on duty for more than 20 hours at a stretch.

Taylor said the ARES station at the Texas State Emergency Operations

Center went on the air July 13. ARES volunteers have been helping the

Southern Baptist Convention Men's Kitchen, the American Red Cross and The

Salvation Army relief efforts. An FCC-declared general communications

emergency for the Texas coastal area for 7285 kHz (days) and 3873 kHz

(nights) was rescinded July 17.

South Texas Section Emergency Coordinator Bob Ehrhardt, W5ZX, says 176

ARES members contributed to the storm response in South Texas. The Western

Gulf Emergency Net activated from July 13 as Claudette headed for the

Texas coast and shut down July 17. Emergency operations centers and

several county emergency coordinators used the net to provide weather and

damage reports from their areas.

The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) relied on Amateur

Radio HF and VHF communications to support its shelter and canteen

operations in the afflicted areas. Ehrhardt says ARES volunteers used VHF

to assist The Salvation Army and the Red Cross.

The Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club earlier this week interconnected

repeaters and concerned agencies using EchoLink to aid in the relief

effort. Deep East Texas SKYWARN Coordinator Kevin Anderson, KD5CCH, said

the system tied together the National Hurricane Center, the National

Weather Service, the Texas Department of Public Safety and most coastal

emergency operations centers, making it easy for ham radio storm spotters

to provide first-hand reports to forecasters. At the height of the storm,

NARC Public Information Officer Tim Lewallen, KD5ING, said, traffic was

"almost constant" on the link--dubbed WX_TALK--mainly between the National

Hurricane Center and field observers.

Claudette sparked some thunderstorms and heavy rains in already

rain-soaked portions of South Texas. Property damage in coastal

communities was greater than had been expected and included beach erosion,

undermined foundations and roadways and roofs blown away, Taylor said.

"Galveston was hard hit with houses along the coast very heavily damaged."

Many residents had fled in advance of the storm's arrival.

Taylor said power and telephone service was knocked out in nearly all

areas along the coast from Galveston to 20 miles north of Corpus

Christi--and some residents remained without electricity or phone service

by week's end. According to Taylor, the area from Matagorda. to Calhoun

counties suffered the worst damage. "Hams have been the only communication

and still are in most of the areas," he added.

The storm inflicted heavy damage and caused power and telephone outages in

the City of Victoria, Taylor reported. "The EOC had no power and operated

on batteries with hams radio as the only outlet," Taylor said. When the

backup power failed District Emergency Coordinator Larry Barton, WB5NIC,

re-established communication via his HF mobile rig.

While Claudette was still in the Gulf of Mexico, the Hurricane Watch Net

(HWN) and WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center activated to gather

observed or measured weather data and storm damage reports to aid

forecasters.

Hams Assist with Hurricane Fabian in Bermuda...

The following report on the Hurricane Watch Net website highlights

a report from one of their Hurricane Watch Net members:

http://www.hwn.org/fabian.shtml

The following article from the ARRL Letter is on how Hams assisted

during Hurricane Fabian which scored a direct hit on the Island of

Bermuda:

==>HAM RADIO KEPT BERMUDA CONNECTED WHEN ALL ELSE FAILED

Amateur Radio became a primary means of contact between Bermuda and the

rest of the world as Hurricane Fabian swept across the island September 5,

claiming at least four lives and causing extensive property damage in some

areas. Authorities in Bermuda this week were assessing its extent. A

dangerous category 3 storm, Fabian took out power to some 25,000

homes--about two-thirds of the island--as well as all radio and TV

stations. Additionally, generator problems took the government's emergency

FM station off the air for a time. Tony Siese, VP9HK, reports the police

operations center was evacuated after the 120-MPH winds took off part of

its roof.

Siese said the only contact with the outside world for a couple of hours

was via hams like himself relaying information on 2 meters to HF operators

and getting weather reports from the National Hurricane Center via the

Hurricane Watch Net <http://www.hwn.org/> on 20 meters. He said that when

the government emergency station dreturned to the air, amateurs provided

it with updated National Hurricane Center reports from the HWN.

Hurricane Watch Net Manager Mike Pilgrim, K5MP, reports his net on 14.325

MHz secured operations September 6 at 0300 UTC "after a very long and busy

day." Participating HWN volunteers feed ground-level weather data to

forecasters via WX4NHC <http://www.wx4nhc.org/> at the National Hurricane

Center. WX4NHC also operates with a volunteer staff. The weather data and

information help meteorologists to develop more accurate storm forecasts.

"We had excellent assistance and vital communications from five VP9 hams

who, unfortunately, had to resort to makeshift antennas and back-up

battery power as the storm approached their locations," Pilgrim said.

WX4NHC Assistant Amateur Radio Coordinator Julio Ripoll, WD4JR, said that

while news reporters on Bermuda found themselves uncharacteristically out

of touch, "old-fashioned" ham radio HF technology got through. As he put

it, "brave Bermuda hams, using car batteries, basic wire antennas and only

50 W of power, were able to send those valued 'surface reports' and

receive vital hurricane advisories." Decent conditions on 20 meters also

helped.

Also pitching in were Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN)

volunteers. "The SATERN Net stood by two days at full alert monitoring for

information from Bermuda as Hurricane Fabian raged through the island,"

said National SATERN Coordinator Pat McPherson, WW9E. SATERN Territorial

Coordinator Rick Shirran, VE3NUZ/VP9, said that with power and telephone

service down, "the only communication that held up during the event was

that of the members of the Radio Society of Bermuda via 2 meters, and HF

on the Hurricane Watch Net and the SATERN Net." Shirran lost part of his

own roof and the driven element to his antenna. He got back on the air

using a makeshift antenna and power from a car battery.

Shirran said it could take more than two weeks to restore power to

Bermuda. Telephone service "remains tentative," he said at week's end. The

airport was only open to daylight flights as of September 11.

Amateur Radio reports gathered September 7 by Dick Montgomery, N3DV, on

the 20-meter Bermuda Net indicated many trees down, damage to docked boats

and amateur antennas blown away, but power slowly being restored.

National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield expressed his sincere

thanks to amateurs who supplied critical information during Fabian. "We

never would have known what was going on in Bermuda without your help," he

said. "You are a part of the hurricane team, and it is a pleasure to work

with you."

Hams Assist with Hurricane Isabel Along the US East Coast...

The following ARRL Letter article highlights Hams efforts during

Hurricane Isabel's impact along the US East Coast.

==>AMATEUR RADIO RESPONDS EFFECTIVELY TO HURRICANE ISABEL

Downgraded to a tropical storm by week's end, Isabel vented much of her

fury on North Carolina and Virginia after coming ashore on North

Carolina's Outer Banks the afternoon of September 18. The flooding it

spawned in the Washington, DC, area also meant a two-day holiday for

federal workers.

Amateur Radio volunteers had been keeping an eye on the storm for several

days prior to its arrival, however, and they were ready to assist in

providing communication support and weather spotting. The Hurricane Watch

Net <http://www.hwn.org/> secured its operation September 18 after two

full days and nights of dealing with Isabel.

"Many thanks to the dozens of dedicated reporting stations in the path of

the storm for their support," said HWN Manager Mike Pilgrim, K5MP, "and

most of all to all Amateur Radio operators who patiently stood on the

sidelines while helping to maintain a clear frequency on 14.325 MHz during

this high-priority operation." The HWN worked with WX4NHC

<http://www.wx4nhc.org/> at the National Hurricane Center to provide

ground-level weather information for hurricane forecasters.

In North Carolina, ARES member Mike Langley, KD4MTT, spent three days at

ARES station NC4EB at the North Carolina Emergency Management's Eastern

Branch headquarters in Kinston--the primary emergency operation center

(EOC) for Isabel.

"Ham radio has been very busy throughout the storm," Langley said. He

noted that the Eastern Branch EOC operated with a staff of six, with two

on duty for two days or more and the others taking turns. "It's been a

pretty busy process."

NC4EB participated in the statewide Tarheel Net on 75 meters, which backed

up logistical communication between the state and county and local EOCs,

and sometimes provided a primary link when government communication

systems went down. Langley said telephone and power were "spotty at best"

in many areas of Eastern North Carolina.

"Right now in the after-action, we're still maintaining vigilance here

passing information back and forth from the different EOCs to Emergency

Management and the Red Cross," Langley said. Other communication has

involved helping state agencies to deploy needed resources, such as

chainsaw crews to remove downed trees. The Eastern Branch also monitored

the Hurricane Watch Net as well as several VHF and one HF frequency plus

e-mail and telephones, he said.

In Virginia, Section Emergency Coordinator Tom Gregory, N4NW, said he had

plenty of volunteers in the early going but could have used more as the

emergency wore on. "A few did a lot," he summed up.

The Virginia Beach Hamfest <http://www.vahamfest.com/> set for September

20-21 was among the storm's first victims. Sponsors called off the annual

event September 18.

Power outages were widespread in Virginia, and Gregory himself was running

an emergency generator. Ground already wet from previous rainfall caused

trees to topple, too, and that included several that uprooted and landed

across Gregory's driveway. He urged all involved in Amateur Radio

emergency communication to install emergency power systems in their homes

and on their repeaters.

The Old Dominion Emergency Net/Virginia Emergency Net Alpha activated on

HF to help support communication between the state EOC and local EOCs.

Gregory said the net had checkins from about half of the Commonwealth's

localities. "Our role was to provide a backup for their landline or

whatever communications, but very few of those lost that capability," he

said of the local EOCs. Areas most drastically affected, including Hampton

Roads and Northern Virginia, did need Amateur Radio support and had plenty

of volunteers, he said.

Amateurs also supported American Red Cross and Salvation Army relief

operations in Virginia.

Virginia SM Carl Clements, W4CAC, in the Tidewater Area lost commercial

power shortly after the storm struck and was powering his equipment with

an emergency generator. While he also has no telephone service, his cell

phone continues to operate. Clements also lost his HF antennas. Many trees

were down in his area, he said, in some cases blocking access.

Tidewater Area amateurs deployed at Red Cross shelters set up in schools.

"Amateur Radio is the only way for the shelters to get in touch with one

another," Clements said. Hams were handling some health-and-welfare

traffic for shelter clients.

"It's a true disaster," Clements said.

In West Virginia, ARRL Section Manager Hal Turley, KC8FS, said ARES/RACES

support of the West Virginia EOC ended September 19. "All in all, Isabel

was kind to us," he said. "As anticipated, the Eastern Panhandle sustained

the brunt of the storm." Heavy rain caused some flooding, and the state

also suffered power outages.

The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN), handled

health-and-welfare inquiries via its SATERN Net on 14.265 MHz and via its

Web site <http://www.satern.org>.

ARES teams in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey also

activated for Isabel. The storm made itself known as far north as Southern

New England and as far west as Eastern Ohio.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)

ARES SKYWARN Coordinator

Southeast Massachusetts ARES District Emergency Coordinator

SEMARA ARES Emergency Coordinator

Pager #: (508) 354-3142

Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)

Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)

Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)

Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com

http://users.rcn.com/rmacedo

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