SKYWARN Newsletter #218

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Hello to all...

SKYWARN Refresher Training Seminar at the Boxboro Hamfest...

ARES/RACES/SKYWARN Booth at the Boxboro Hamfest...

SEMARA ARES/NWS Taunton SKYWARN Program Assists During Hurricane Alex...

ARRL Letter Article: First Hurricane of the Season Causes Net Activations...

Hurricane Alex Complete Coordinates....

Tropical Depression 2 Complete Coordinates...

***Newsletter Issued: 8/8/04.

SKYWARN Refresher Training Seminar at the Boxboro Hamfest...

A SKYWARN refresher traning seminar will be done at the Boxboro Hamfest

on Friday August 13th, 2004 from 2-5 PM at the Boxboro Holiday Inn

Convention Center which is off of Exit 28 on I-495.

Details on the refresher training seminar can be seen via the Boxboro

Hamfest link listed below:

http://www.boxboro.org/2004/friday.htm

Directions to the facility are listed below:

http://www.boxboro.org/2004/Directions.htm

Please note that attendance to this program does not include any

registration to the Hamfest as the web-site listing details on the

SKYWARN program indicates.

ARES/RACES/SKYWARN Booth at the Boxboro Hamfest...

There will be an ARES/RACES/SKYWARN booth at the Boxboro Hamfest on

Saturday August 14th and Sunday August 15th. Representatives from

ARES, RACES and SKYWARN will be present to answer questions and

provide information on the various programs and how you can assist

during a communications emergency or SKYWARN Activation. Those that

are already involved in the various programs are encouraged to drop

by and chat with the leadership that will be present at the booth.

For more information on the Boxboro Hamfest/New England Division

Convention, please see the Boxboro Hamfest link below:

http://www.boxboro.org/2004/index.html

SEMARA ARES/NWS Taunton SKYWARN Program Assists During Hurricane Alex...

SEMARA (Southeastern Massachusetts Amateur Radio Assoication) ARES and

the NWS Taunton SKYWARN program assisted during Hurricane Alex by providing

net control duties from 2:45 PM-4:45 PM EDT for the Voice Over IP WX Net.

It was a pleasure, honor and a privilege to serve as a net control with

several other Amateurs from the SEMARA club. Below is a report issued on

that activation.

Per Kevin Anderson-KD5WX and Danny Musten-KD4RAA, the Echolink and IRLP Net

Managers for the Voice Over IP WX Net that supports the National Hurricane

Center, we were activated to support the National Hurricane Center, WX4NHC,

with reports from the affected area of Hurricane Alex which was essentially

the Outer Banks of North Carolina along with portions of Eastern North

Carolina. I worked the mid-afternoon shift from roughly 2:30-5:00 PM EDT

accompanied by Tony Duarte, N1XRS, Arthur Irwin-W1AEI, and Mike Mc

Donald-KB1NB. Bill Miller-K1IBR was also at SEMARA but he was at the

repeater site assisting and monitoring the ongoing tower work that NETCOM is

doing.

The peak of the hurricane had passed about 2 hours before my net shift but

some interesting reports were received from the net as Hurricane Alex

departed and they were as follows:

Approximately 1500:

W8JUK-Bob Kill Devils Hill, North Carolina on the Outer Banks. Average Wind

Speed 24 MPH with gusts to 47 MPH. Barometer 29.53" and Falling.

Reports from the local EOC in the area indicated South of Oregon Inlet to

Cape Hatteras and many power outages.

Approximately 1505:

Frisco-Hatteras Island. Severe Coastal Flooding. 5-10 feet of water reported

near the fire station in Frisco.

Approximately 1515:

KD4RAA relayed report from the Hurricane Intercept Team's Ham K4JVP:

Significant Coastal Flooding in Pamlico Sound. Surge has dropped

approximately 6" since past report. Sustained winds 40 MPH. Pressure rising

to 999 Millbars.

Approximately 1540:

W8JUK-Bob reports 5.72" of rain at his location.

All reports were forwarded to WX4NHC via the online reporting form. Other

anecdotal reports were received and Hurricane Alex Advisory Numbers 13B and

14 were read over the net.

The Hurricane Watch Net was monitored on 14.325 KHz. Additional reports were

received via HF and forwarded to the National Hurricane Center through this

net. WX4NHC allowed the Hurricane Watch Net to secure at 445 PM and the

VoIP-WX Net secured at a similar timeframe.

Lessons Learned from this first ever SEMARA ARES Activation for Support of

the VoIP-WX Net Activation for Hurricane Alex:

What Worked

-Handling of traffic on the net went very well.

-Numerous compliments were given on how the net was run during the period.

-Handling of stations wishing to monitor was done correctly.

-All reports forwared to WX4NHC in a timely fashion.

-Great cooperation with all net participants.

What Needs Improvement

-Make sure we have correct spellings of locations. (Misspelled Frisco and

"Kill" Devils Hill versus "Chill" Devils Hill, NC.)

-Make sure we have detailed maps across the coastline of the Southeastern US

and other locations that hurricanes could impact for reference.

-Make sure to provide detailed descriptions of all reports per the NHC

coordinators.

Special thanks to Art, W1AEI, Tony, N1XRS and Mike, KB1NB for monitoring

with me during this first ever Voice Over IP Activation for a Hurricane done

in the Eastern Masaschusetts ARES section.

ARRL Letter Article: First Hurricane of the Season Causes Net Activations...

Below is an ARRL Letter article concerning the first hurricane of the season,

Hurricane Alex, causing the Voice Over IP WX Net and the Hurricane Watch

Net to activate for reports to be relayed to the National Hurricane Center

Ham station, WX4NHC:

==>HURRICANE WATCH NET, WX4NHC ACTIVATE FOR SEASON'S FIRST STORM

The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) <http://www.hwn.org> activated on 14.325 MHz

August 3 as Hurricane Alex threatened North Carolina's Outer Banks. The

first hurricane of the Atlantic Tropical Weather Season, Alex had been

expected to remain a tropical storm. Instead, it turned into a Category 2

hurricane packing sustained winds of 100 MPH with higher gusts. At one

point, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami reported that Alex was

moving almost parallel to North Carolina's Outer Banks, which includes

areas still recovering from the devastating effects of Hurricane Isabel

last year.

"During our eight-hour net, we received numerous reports from the Outer

Banks of North Carolina," says HWN Assistant Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV.

"Band conditions were not the best due to fading and atmospheric noise."

Heavy rains led to flooding, and thousands of tourists had to be evacuated

from the Outer Banks and Ocracoke Island. Power was knocked out in some

areas. Salvation Army teams aided those stranded by the storm.

One station quite a distance from the excitement, Jim Idelson, K1IR, in

Massachusetts, nonetheless was able to help out when a weak station in

Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, tried to check into the HWN but was not

being heard. "I offered to relay," said Idelson, whose station sports

20-meter stacked beams. "The station in Cape Hatteras was on emergency

power and running a G5RV that was coming down in the winds," he said in a

posting to the Yankee Clipper Contest Club <http://www.yccc.org>

reflector. The North Carolina station also turned out to be a primary

source of weather data for the HWN, and Idelson said he spent a couple of

hours relaying reports to WX4NHC.

Graves said that given the number of net members throughout the US,

Canada, the Caribbean, Honduras and Mexico, the HWN was able to switch net

control stations as needed to maintain contact with the affected area in

the path of Hurricane Alex.

At the National Hurricane Center Assistant Amateur Radio Coordinator Julio

Ripoll, WD4R, says several of the surface reports received via the

Center's WX4NHC were cited in the various hurricane advisories.

"The hurricane forecasters are always interested in what is actually

happening on the ground, as it happens," he notes. "It helps them

visualize the storms' effect on people and property as they analyze

scientific data."

According to Ripoll, the new VOIPWX Net <http://www.voipwx.net/>, which

combines IRLP and EchoLink has been a tremendous asset. "This has opened

up a whole new resource of stations, VHF/UHF/Mobile/Techs, that we would

have not heard of on HF," he said.

The HWN and WX4NHC subsequently turned their attention to Tropical

Depression 2, which failed to develop into a serious storm. "After a quiet

June and July, it appears that August is the awakening month for the

Atlantic Tropical Season," Graves said.

During hurricane emergencies trained HWN members provide essential

communication support to WX4NHC, which disseminates storm updates via the

net. The HWN also collects observed or measured weather data and

post-storm damage reports from Amateur Radio operators in the affected

areas and relays that information to forecasters via WX4NHC. The

ground-level weather data assists NHC forecasters in predicting a storm's

path and behavior.

Hurricane Alex Complete Coordinates....

Hurricane Alex formed in the Bahamas as a depression and strengthened into

a tropical storm as it approached the Southeast US Coast. Alex became a

hurricane early Tuesday Morning and intensified into a Category II storm

battering the outer Banks of North Carolina with a hurricane force

conditions with tropical storm force conditions over Eastern North Carolina.

The strongest part of the hurricane remained offshore but still caused

considerable damage to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Alex then moved

out to sea off the US East Coast but made it into the record books as only

the second hurricane on record to reach a Category III hurricane north

of 38 degress North latitude before becoming extratropical. Below are

the coordinates on Hurricane Alex, all wind speeds given in Knots:

Date: 31 JUL-06 AUG 2004

Hurricane ALEX

ADV LAT LON TIME WIND PR STAT

1 30.60 -78.60 07/31/21Z 25 1010 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

1A 30.90 -78.60 08/01/00Z 25 1010 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

2 31.40 -78.90 08/01/03Z 25 1009 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

2A 31.60 -78.90 08/01/06Z 25 1009 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

3 32.10 -79.10 08/01/09Z 25 1009 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

3A 32.50 -79.20 08/01/12Z 25 1009 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

4 31.90 -79.20 08/01/15Z 30 1011 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

4A 31.70 -79.10 08/01/18Z 35 1010 TROPICAL STORM

5 31.70 -79.20 08/01/21Z 35 1010 TROPICAL STORM

5A 31.50 -79.20 08/02/00Z 35 1009 TROPICAL STORM

6 31.50 -79.20 08/02/03Z 35 1007 TROPICAL STORM

6A 31.40 -79.40 08/02/06Z 35 1005 TROPICAL STORM

7 31.40 -79.50 08/02/09Z 35 1004 TROPICAL STORM

8 31.30 -79.00 08/02/12Z 50 992 TROPICAL STORM

9 31.50 -78.70 08/02/15Z 50 993 TROPICAL STORM

9A 31.80 -78.60 08/02/18Z 50 993 TROPICAL STORM

10 32.10 -78.50 08/02/21Z 50 993 TROPICAL STORM

10A 32.40 -78.10 08/03/00Z 55 993 TROPICAL STORM

11 32.80 -77.80 08/03/03Z 60 987 TROPICAL STORM

11A 33.00 -77.40 08/03/06Z 65 983 HURRICANE-1

12 33.50 -76.90 08/03/09Z 70 983 HURRICANE-1

12A 34.10 -76.50 08/03/12Z 80 974 HURRICANE-1

13 34.70 -75.80 08/03/15Z 85 973 HURRICANE-2

13A 35.10 -75.40 08/03/17Z 85 970 HURRICANE-2

13B 35.40 -75.10 08/03/19Z 85 972 HURRICANE-2

14 35.80 -74.60 08/03/21Z 85 972 HURRICANE-2

14A 36.00 -73.80 08/04/00Z 85 972 HURRICANE-2

15 36.50 -72.80 08/04/03Z 80 973 HURRICANE-1

16 37.10 -71.10 08/04/09Z 80 973 HURRICANE-1

17 37.70 -69.00 08/04/15Z 75 979 HURRICANE-1

18 37.90 -67.50 08/04/21Z 90 970 HURRICANE-2

19 38.90 -64.80 08/05/03Z 105 957 HURRICANE-3

20 40.00 -61.50 08/05/09Z 105 957 HURRICANE-3

21 41.70 -57.60 08/05/15Z 105 957 HURRICANE-3

22 43.60 -52.80 08/05/21Z 90 970 HURRICANE-2

23 44.90 -47.40 08/06/03Z 75 981 HURRICANE-1

24 46.50 -41.50 08/06/09Z 65 984 HURRICANE-1

25 47.50 -34.60 08/06/15Z 50 987 TROPICAL STORM

Tropical Depression 2 Complete Coordinates....

The following is the Tropical Depression 2 Complete Coordinates. TD 2

formed in the Carribean and brought showers and thunderstorms to the

Leeward Islands before degnerating to a tropical wave. The following

are the coordinates on the tropical depression. All wind speeds given

in knots:

Date: 03-04 AUG 2004

Tropical Depression TWO

ADV LAT LON TIME WIND PR STAT

1 13.20 -54.20 08/03/15Z 25 1009 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

2 13.60 -56.60 08/03/21Z 25 1009 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

2A 13.50 -57.30 08/04/00Z 25 1009 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

3 13.60 -58.30 08/04/03Z 30 1009 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

3A 13.70 -59.70 08/04/06Z 30 1010 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

4 13.80 -60.70 08/04/09Z 30 1010 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

4A 13.80 -61.50 08/04/12Z 30 1010 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

5 13.80 -62.70 08/04/15Z 30 1011 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

6 13.50 -63.50 08/04/21Z 30 1011 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

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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