SKYWARN Newsletter #224

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Hello to all...

SKYWARN Training Schedule for 2005 Finalized....

Small Earthquake Affects New Bedford, Massachusetts, How Reports to USGS Helps...

Dr. Gray Forecasts Another Active Hurricane Season...

NWS Taunton Preparedness Weeks and Events Through the Fall of 2005...

ARRL Letter Article: SKYWARN Springs into Action in Central Mississippi....

***Newsletter Issued: 4/11/05.

SKYWARN Training Schedule for 2005 Finalized....

The SKYWARN Training Schedule for 2005 is finalized. It is noted that

there is an error on the NWS Taunton Web Site concerning the SKYWARN

Training session in Brockton, Massachusetts. That session is Saturday

June 11th, 2005 from Noon-3 PM and is listed correctly on the SKYWARN

web site. NWS was notified on Friday and it will be corrected.

There will be one more SKYWARN training session scheduled in July in

Western New England and once that session is finalized, it will be

posted on the training schedule and in this SKYWARN Newsletter.

Here are the links to the schedule, again, note the one discrepancy

concerning the SKYWARN training session in Brockton, Massachusetts

and utilize the link to the SKYWARN web page (i.e.: the RCN link)

for the correct time for that session until NWS gets a chance to

correct their web site.

http://users.rcn.com/rmacedo/trsched.htm

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/skywarnTraining2005.shtml

There is no preregistration required and all are welcome to attend.

Please pass the word on to interested friends, Amateur Radio Clubs,

public safety officials and other organizations who may be interested

in doing crucial weather spotting for the National Weather Service

for the protection of life and property.

Small Earthquake Affects New Bedford, Massachusetts, How Reports to USGS Helps...

A small earthquake jolted South Coastal Massachusetts on Tuesday

April 5th. The small earthquake, 2.3 on the Richter Scale, was felt through

almost a dozen cities and towns on the South Coast of Massachusetts. A link

with details on the quake is listed below:

http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_wmb5.html

The nearest seismograph station in the area is the Weston Observatory which

is run by Boston College. The USGS (United States Geological Survey) and the

Weston Observatory both appreciate receiving reports on whether an earthquake

has been felt so that they can determine the range of its impact even for

minor events such as this one. The link below is provided by USGS for those

who have felt an earthquake:

http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/ne/html/unknown_form.html

In addition, the Weston Observatory has an email address for reporting

whether you have felt an earthquake and that email address is listed below:

weston.observatory@bc.edu

You can also review information on the process for if you felt an earthquake

on the Weston Observatory web site at the following link:

http://www.bc.edu/research/westonobservatory/northeast/ifyoufelt/

Some of the links that this web page discusses is also in this article.

SKYWARN Spotters and Amateur Radio Operators provide an important service

to the National Weather Service for severe weather. If an earthquake occurs,

there are tools available for Spotters, Amateur Radio Operators and Public

Safety to provide useful information to the USGS. For this event in New

Bedford numerous Amateurs provided reports through these links so that

the extent of where the quake was felt was known to the official agencies.

Dr. Gray Forecasts Another Active Hurricane Season...

While it is only April, it is not too early to begin discussions on the

2005 Hurricane Season. The latest Dr. Gray forecast from April 1st is

calling for an active Hurricane Season once again in 2005. In fact, his

current forecast may have an upgraded number of tropical systems provided

El Nino conditions do not develop.

While the number of systems doesn't always matter as much as the proximity

of systems to the US and Caribbean coast line, Dr. Gray's forecasts, along

with forecasts provided by NOAA can provide a great scope on how active

a hurricane season will be.

Links to Dr. Gray's archived and current forecasts are listed below:

http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu/forecasts/

http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu/forecasts/2005/april2005/

NWS Taunton Preparedness Weeks and Events Through the Fall of 2005...

NWS Taunton has put together a calendar of their preparedness week

timeframes where they will issue safety statements for various items

during those weeks and have also announced some events that will occur

later this year. Below is the current list:

April 25th-29th, 2005: Severe Weather Preparedness Week

May 21st-27th, 2005: National Safe Boating Awareness Week

June 19th-25th, 2005: National Lightning Safety Awareness Week

July 12th, 2005: Coastal Flood and High Surf Messages will be changed to

the "Coastal Hazard Message"

July 11th-15th, 2005: Hurricane Awareness Week

November 5th, 2005: Sixth Annual Southern New England Weather Conference

For Details on the Weather Conference, go to the following link:

http://www.sneweatherconf.org/

Changes to the list will be posted in later newsletters.

ARRL Letter Article: SKYWARN Springs into Action in Central Mississippi....

This ARRL Letter article highlights a prolonged SKYWARN Activation

that occurred in Central Mississippi during this past week.

==>SKYWARN ENDURES DAYLONG SIEGE IN CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI

Wednesday, April 6, in Central Mississippi began with tornadoes, severe hail

and flooding, prompting activation of local SKYWARN, Amateur Radio Emergency

Service (ARES) teams and Amateur Radio volunteers. Members of the Jackson

Amateur Radio Club (JARC) staffed the National Weather Service (NWS) Jackson

Forecast Office. Operations continued for more than 16 hours as a line of

severe storms marched across Mississippi. The club's station, WX5JAN,

handled a substantial number of warning statements, spotter and damage

reports.

"I think we did extremely well considering the length of the event and

everything else that occurred," said JARC SKYWARN Coordinator, Robert "Billy

Bob" Sekul, N5XXX. This week's event marked the eighth SKYWARN activation

since March 1.

Within an hour of activation, an F3 tornado struck the Monterey area in

Rankin County, injuring six residents, destroying 17 homes and damaging many

more. Smith County radio amateurs reported major damage in Mize after a

tornado struck the community's K-12 school as students took shelter.

Throughout the morning, reports of hail, funnel clouds and flooding streamed

into the station from counties across Central Mississippi.

As another wave of severe storms moved through these same areas in the

afternoon, operators continued to report funnel clouds, hail and flooding.

Several JARC ARES members responded to the Central Mississippi Chapter of

the American Red Cross to assist with damage assessment and other duties.

During this second wave of storms, a nearby lightning strike forced the

SKYWARN station off the air. Hurricane Watch Net Assistant Manager Bobby

Graves, KB5HAV, served temporarily as alternate net control while the

station recovered from the strike. Although the interruption was short

lived, warnings and reports continued unabated.

By late afternoon, a third round of storms moved through, hitting many of

the same areas. Again, reports of hail, funnel clouds and flooding continued

until operations ceased at 10:30 PM. SKYWARN is a voluntary program

developed by the NWS to improve its severe weather warning program.--Ben

Jones, AC5SU

That's all for this edition of the SKYWARN Newsletter!

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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