SKYWARN Newsletter #227

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Hello to all...

Newsletter Dedicated to VoIP Hurricane Net Activations and Events....

SEMARA ARES Activates and Supports Hurricane Dennis VoIP Hurricane Net Activation...

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Supports VoIP Hurricane Net Activation for Hurricane Katrina...

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Supports VoIP Hurricane Net Activation for Hurricane Ophelia...

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Supports VoIP Hurricane Net Activation for Hurricane Rita....

SKYWARN Activation for Tropical Storm Ophelia and Severe Weather in Connecticut on 9/17/05...

New ARES E-Letter, Rita and Katrina Resources, Available via the ARRL National Web Site....

Southern New England Weather Conference Scheduled for Early November....

Amateur Radio SKYWARN Recognition Day Set for Saturday December 3rd, 2005 0000-2400 UTC...

WBZ-TV CBS-4 Weather Almanac Photo Contest....

***Newsletter Issued: 10/7/05.

Newsletter Dedicated to VoIP Hurricane Net Activations and Events....

This edition of the SKYWARN Newsletter is dedicated to activations for

tropical activity via the VoIP Hurricane Net as well as several upcoming

events that have been scheduled in November and December. Future newsletters

will detail SKYWARN Activations and Severe Weather Outbreaks from the 2004 and

2005 seasons as well as other events that will be forthcoming in the NWS Taunton

SKYWARN program.

SEMARA ARES Activates and Supports Hurricane Dennis VoIP Hurricane Net Activation...

SEMARA ARES activated and supported the VoIP Hurricane Net Activation for Hurricane

Dennis which slammed the Panhandle of Florida and Southern Alabama as a Category-III

hurricane. Dennis made landfall right near Pensacola, Florida on Sunday July 10th

around 4 PM EDT. The VoIP Hurricane Net had several stations on the system including

the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Mobile, Alabama, the Mobile, Alabama

EOC, Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington, DC and SATERN representation

on the net. In addition, K4JVP-John Van Pelt was located in Gulf Shores, Alabama

providing data from that location and WX4TCL-Phil was located at a special needs

shelter in Pensacola, Florida providing visual observations as well as information

from his local ARES/RACES Net and Emergency operating Center.

Reports of a shelter sustaining structural damage as well as tree and power line

damage was received out of the Pensacola Florida area and Southern Alabama. Reports

of significant beach erosion were received as far east as Panama City, Florida. Net

Controls from North Carolina, Minnesota, Texas, Eastern Massachusetts and Australia

monitored Hurricane Dennis as he made landfall. SEMARA ARES was active with Net Control

duty during the landfall timeframe with Tony-N1XRS and Rob-KD1CY providing the support.

Shelter information from the Mobile, Alabama EOC was sent into the Red Cross National

Headquarters along with reports of tree and power line damage and structural damage

to a shelter. While Hurricane Dennis was a major hurricane as it made landfall,

its smaller wind field and its slow weakening trend prevented another significant

landfall along the lines of Hurricane Ivan which hit the areas last September.

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Supports VoIP Hurricane Net Activation for Hurricane Katrina...

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Supported the VoIP Hurricane Net Activation once

again for Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina made two landfalls, one in

Southern Florida and the second in Southeast Louisiana and Southern Mississippi.

During the first landfall, reports from Southeast Florida came into the net. The

reports included trees and wires down including a tree down on a house. KA4EPS-Lu

reported peak wind gusts of up to 72 MPH in Deerfield Beach, Florida with a report

of a wind gust to 78 MPH in East Hollywood Florida. Also in East Hollywood Florida,

a mobile home lost its roof. All reports were forwarded to WX4NHC, the National

Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. As Katrina made landfall, the eye of Hurricane

Katrina passed right over the National Hurricane Center. The first portion of

the activation started at 4:30 PM EDT and was secured at 11 PM EDT as Katrina

went over the relatively uninhabited portions of the Everglades of Southwest

Florida.

Katrina then emerged off the Florida Coast into the warm waters of the Gulf of

Mexico. She became a monstrous Category-5 hurricane. Katrina then barreled

her way towards New Orleans, Louisiana and Southern Mississippi. The VoIP Hurricane

Net activated once again with net controls from Australia, Eastern Massachusetts,

North Carolina, Ohio and Minnesota participating.

The National Weather Service Office in Mobile, Alabama was on the system for a time

and gave a wind measurement report of a gust to 58 MPH just outside of Mobile

Alabama from a trained spotter. They also reported several large trees down just

outside of Mobile as well. Also on the system was, WB5LHS, which is the Louisiana

Office of Homeland Security in Baton Rouge Louisiana which was their State EOC. They

gave some reports of damage in their area as well as their update as holes in the

Superdome roof were seen via local media outlets.

In Southern Mississippi, a report from Gulfport, Mississippi relayed by Ray Weber,

KA1JJM, indicated that several homes lost their roofs with wall damage reported

before he lost contact with the person, who was a SKYWARN trained spotter. It

would be find out later that homes were essentially destroyed in Gulfport as

Katrina continued her deadly passage through the region. As the storm made

its way through Mississippi, hurricane force winds were felt as far inland

as Hattiesburg, Mississippi and a Ham in Hattiesburg reported a peak wind gust

to 88 MPH, trees down and power outages. Other wind measuring devices from local

media outlets reported peak wind gusts of over 100 MPH in the area. Significant

damage from Katrina was felt 150-175 miles inland as a hurricane before Katrina

weakened to a tropical storm.

The New Orleans area had flooding and wind damage that would later be compounded

as the levees gave way the next day. The following days would reveal that Katrina

was one of the worst natural disaster's facing the United States within the past

100 years. Further articles and write-ups on Amateur Radio efforts for the aftermath

of Katrina can be seen later in this newsletter.

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Supports VoIP Hurricane Net Activation for Hurricane Ophelia...

Eastern Massachusetts ARES supported the VoIP Hurricane Net activation for Hurricane

Ophelia. As Ophelia approached the coast line, stations from Northern South Carolina

and Southeast North Carolina checked in with reports of tree and power line damage.

The National Weather Service Office in Wilmington, North Carolina, WX4ILM, also

checked in and gave the net several reports. John Van Pelt-K4JVP and Danny Musten

KD4RAA gave several measured wind reports from Atlantic Beach, North Carolina and

provided a report that part of a pier at the Sheraton they were staying at was lost

by pounding waves and high surf. Eastern Massachusetts ARES assisted with net control

duty during this period while keeping a wary eye on Ophelia's track as came

precariously close to Southeastern New England.

While Ophelia was a category 1 hurricane and most of the eye and the eastern part

of the center was offshore, Ophelia lingered for a long period of time near the

Southeast North Carolina coast and the Northern eye wall pounded Southeast North

Carolina for a day and half to two days causing an extended period of damage.

Information on how North Carolina ARES and other Amateurs handled Hurricane

Ophelia can be seen in the ARRL ARES E-Letter. Those links are listed later

in this newsletter.

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Supports VoIP Hurricane Net Activation for Hurricane Rita....

Eastern Massachusetts ARES supported the VoIP Hurricane Net Activation for Hurricane

Rita as she made landfall in the Southwest Louisiana, Southeast Texas corridor.

In addition, Eastern Massachusetts ARES assisted with Hurricane Rita as she

affected the Florida Keys with strong tropical storm force conditions with

hurricane conditions reported just offshore on Tuesday September 20th, 2005.

Jim Palmer-KB1KQW, Assistant SKYWARN Coordinator for North Shore SKYWARN,

assisted by getting two contacts from the Florida Keys, one was a former

co-worker and that former co-worker new a trained SKYWARN Spotter from Cudjoe

Key, Florida with a complete weather station. Information from these people

were relayed to the National Hurricane Center through the VoIP Hurricane Net

where Karl Erbland-K8ARL, a net control from Tiffin, Ohio relayed the

information to WX4NHC, the National Hurricane Center Amateur Radio station

in Miami, Florida.

Below is an article that highlighted the efforts as Rita made landfall in the

Southwest Texas and Southeast Louisiana corridor Friday September 23rd into

Saturday September 24th. It is noted that portions of this article were

used in the ARRL ARES E-Letter:

The VoIP Hurricane Net activated for Hurricane Rita beginning at 9 AM EDT,

Friday September 23rd, 2005 to coincide with WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio

Station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida at 9 AM EDT/8 AM

CDT and concluded its activation on Saturday September 24th, 2005 at 2 PM

EDT/1 PM CDT.

The net's goal is to connect Amateurs in the affected area with EOC's,

National Weather Service offices and the National Hurricane Center for

pertinent emergency communications traffic and provide weather reports and

damage assessments to the National Hurricane Center and other official

agencies that may be on the system. Net Controls for this activation came

from a variety of ARRL Sections including Eastern Massachusetts, North

Carolina, Ohio, Florida, and Minnesota. In addition, international stations

participated as net control. Several Amateur Radio Operators from Australia

including Amateurs from WICEN, the Wireless Institute Civil Emergency

Network, which is Australia's version of ARES, participated as Net Control

during the overnight hours in the United States, which is Australia's late

afternoon and evening hours. Also, an Amateur Radio Operator from England

participated for the first time as well. The use of international stations

allows for net controls in the US to remain fresh during daylight hours and

facilitates easier 24-hour operation of the net.

Using radio systems, and repeaters that are linked to the Internet through

IRLP reflector 9219 which is cross-linked with the EchoLink *WX_TALK*

conference server, Amateurs from Eastern Texas and Western Louisiana were

able to pass important traffic relating to their emergency operations over

the system. For example, Amateurs in North Texas RACES had a request for

Amateurs to assist with shelter operations in their region as evacuees from

the Eastern Texas coast line were displaced as far north as the Dallas-Fort

Worth area. An Amateur from Cleobourne, Texas responded to the call and

worked with the requesting Amateur from North Texas RACES to supply more

Amateurs for shelter operations in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area. In

addition, EOC and National Weather Service Forecast Offices came on line

over the course of the day Friday. This included the Nacogdoches EOC through

the efforts of Kevin Anderson-KD5WX, WX5FWD, which is the National Weather

Service in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, WR5GC, which is the National Weather

Service in Houston, Texas and K5SHV, which is the National Weather Service

in Shreveport, Louisiana. In addition, the Livingston Memorial Hospital was

connected through the efforts of WM6V-Flo Garneau and the Lufkin, Texas Fire

Department through the efforts of Richard Ewbanks-KE5DRG.

Southwest Louisiana was the first area to receive the worst conditions from

Hurricane Rita on Friday Evening. An Amateur from Southwest Louisiana,

KE5FRF-Heath Roberts from Denham Springs, Louisiana, provided information directly

from the Lake Charles, Louisiana Police Department of significant tree and power

line damage Friday Evening.

On Saturday Morning, damage reports and observed weather data came in

steadily as daylight revealed some of the damage done by dangerous Hurricane

Rita. WM6V-Flo Garneau reported that the glass emergency room doors of the

Livingston Memorial Hospital in Livingston, Texas were blown out by

estimated winds of 100 MPH and the Livingston OEM reported a measured wind gust

on Livingston Dam of 105 MPH measured. She also reported that the Timber Creek

School in Livingston, Texas lost the roof that was covering the cafeteria portion

of the school with no injuries reported. The school was serving as a shelter

for 280 people. Several homes lost portions of their roofs in Nacogdoches,

Lufkin and Homer, Texas as reported by Kevin-KD5WX from the Nacogdoches EOC,

Matt Kuhl-K5MLK in Lufkin, Texas and Jeff Little-KM5RA in Homer, Texas with a

2-story apartment complex losing its roof in Lufkin, Texas per Richard-KE5DRG,

who received the report via his fire station in Lufkin. Reports of damage were

also received from AA5HY-David Armstrong from Mansfield Louisiana as the ARES

EC and EOC liaison for the Mansfield/De Soto Louisiana area and were forwarded

to the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service in

Shreveport, Louisiana.

The ability to connect EchoLink PC users, EchoLink and IRLP repeaters and links

via the same system offers a large amount of flexibility to obtain reports from Amateurs

in the affected area including Amateurs who do not have HF privileges. At

the same time, it is not a replacement to other Amateur Radio modes

including HF, WinLink, Packet, APRS, VHF/UHF repeaters and simplex and many

other modes that an emergency communicator may use to get vital emergency

and priority traffic out for served agencies. EchoLink and IRLP provide

another "tool in the toolbox" for the emergency communicator to utilize when

available.

SKYWARN Activation for Tropical Storm Ophelia and Severe Weather in Connecticut on 9/17/05...

SKYWARN was activated at 5 AM on Saturday September 17th, 2005 as Tropical Storm Warnings

were posted for Southeastern New England as Tropical Storm Ophelia, once a hurricane

meandering just offshore of the North Carolina Outer Banks, pounded that region as

the northern eye wall hit much of Eastern North Carolina. Ophelia's strongest winds

were to the east of the center and the strongest winds ended up missing Cape

Cod and the Islands. 2-3" of rain was recorded on much of Cape Cod and the Islands

but the strongest wind recorded was 27 MPH on Nantucket. A buoy just 60 miles Southeast

of Nantucket Island recorded a wind gust to 47 Knots or 54 MPH. SKYWARN was active

on the 146.955-Barnstable Repeater until all Tropical Storm Warnings were dropped at

the 10 AM EDT National Hurricane Center Conference Call with affected NWS offices.

Special thanks to Tony Langdon-VK3JED from Australia for his support of net operations

on the VoIP side of the system during the morning hours by relaying rainfall and

wind measurement reports to the National Hurricane Center using their online web form

and reading pertinent National Hurricane Center advisories on the system.

Later that afternoon, a cold front, which was responsible for shunting Tropical Storm

Ophelia out to sea far enough to prevent tropical storm force winds from impacting

the region, caused severe weather in portions of Connecticut. SKYWARN was active

on the 146.790-Vernon, CT Repeater as Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were issued

for Hartford and Tolland Counties in CT. Reports of severe criteria came into

the net between 4 and 6 PM. Dime to Nickel Sized Hail was reported in

Burlington, CT along with Large branches, trees and wires down in East

Hartford, Farmington, Glastonbury, Hebron and Columbia, CT. Measured rainfall

of around 1.5" within an hour occurred in portions of Hartford County, CT.

Roger Jeanfaivre-K1PAI, Ron Potter-AG1P, Harv Broverman, K1PZS, and

Mike Natale-N1QNQ were all active with SKYWARN along with several spotters that

were on the system. Thereafter, activity weakened as it moved across Southeastern

New England.

Activity moved into Southern Rhode Island where SKYWARN was activated on the 146.76

Scituate, RI Repeater and the 147.165-Exeter, RI Repeater. Martin Mendelson-N1JMA,

Peter Harrison-AA1PL, and Norm Gould-N1VDJ monitored. A couple of ground strikes

of lightning caused house fires in Westerly, RI but no reports of severe criteria

were received.

Special Thanks to all those who assisted in these SKYWARN Activations!

New ARES E-Letter, Rita and Katrina Resources, Available via the ARRL National Web Site....

Over the past 4-6 weeks, Amateur Radio has played a huge role in disaster relief

efforts as well as with providing front line information of measured wind reports

and damage to the National Hurricane Center. ARES, the Amateur Radio Emergency

Services, RACES, the Radio Amateur civil Emergency Services, SATERN, the Salvation

Army Team Emergency Response Network, and MARS, the Military Affiliated Radio

System among other Amateur Radio Groups have assisted in a huge way to facilitate

communications into the affected area after Rita and Katrina struck the region.

There are many articles and updates that have been posted on the ARRL National

Web site. This includes articles posted on the web site itself along with updates

via a new ARES E-Letter. In fact, excerpts from an article written on the VoIP Hurricane

Net Activation for Hurricane Rita were posted in the latest ARES E-Letter from

October 1st. Below are links to the articles:

Hurricane Rita and Katrina Related Articles:

http://www.arrl.org/katrina-more.html

Hurricane Katrina Resources:

http://www.arrl.org/katrina.html

ARRL ARES E-Letter:

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/

Some Amateurs from across Southern New England have either assisted remotely during

these hurricanes, while others have deployed to the area for several weeks to support

communications in the region. Some of the articles indicate that their is still a

need for assistance. If you're interested in assisting, please contact your ARES

Section Emergency Coordinator or other emergency communications leader in your

area for further information. Do not self-deploy to the region.

Southern New England Weather Conference Scheduled for Early November....

The Southern New England Weather Conference is scheduled for Saturday November 5th,

2005 at the Dexter-Southfield School and Clay Center Observatory in Brookline,

Massachusetts. This is the 6th annual conference. Fees for the conference include

a plan with dinner and a plan without dinner. There are numerous guest speakers

from the National Weather Service as well as from Emergency Management. For further

information and details on sign-up for this event, please see the following link:

http://www.sneweatherconf.org/index.shtml

This event is co-sponsored by the National Weather Association, the National

Weather Service in Taunton, Mass, the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center,

The Greater Boston Chapter of the American Meteorological Society and the

UMASS-Lowell Student Chapter of the AMS.

Amateur Radio SKYWARN Recognition Day Set for Saturday December 3rd, 2005 0000-2400 UTC...

On Saturday December 3rd, 2005, SKYWARN Recognition Day will be held for the

7th straight year. SKYWARN Recognition Day is an event where National Weather

Service Forecast Offices get on the air and make contacts with other NWS

Offices as well as all Amateurs and any Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters.

The purpose is to thank the thousands of Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters

whose timely severe weather reports into NWS Forecast Offices across

the country protect life and property. In addition, NWS Meteorologists,

some of which are Hams and some of which are non-Hams will be asked

to get on the air and participate if they are willing and quiet weather

conditions allow their participation.

The time frame is Saturday December 3rd, 2005 from 0000-2400 UTC. This

equates to Friday December 2nd 7 PM EDT through Saturday December 3rd

7 PM EDT. The National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts has

already been registered under call-sign WX1BOX and we look forward

to our 4th year of participation. Of course, as many people recall

in 2003, we had the infamous SKYWARN Recognition Day Major Snowstorm

which dumped 1-2 feet of snow with higher amounts of up to 3 feet,

caused wind damage with winds gusting to 60+ MPH and 2 cycles of

moderate coastal flooding. Hopefully, the weather will be quiet

to allow full participation in the event versus a long duration

SKYWARN Activation for the timeframe of the event.

For more information on SKYWARN Recognition Day, please see the

following link:

http://hamradio.noaa.gov

Further details on NWS Taunton operations for SKYWARN Recognition

Day will follow in later newsletters.

WBZ-TV CBS-4 Weather Almanac Photo Contest....

The WBZ-TV CBS-4 Weather team, which has worked closely in providing

publicity on the efforts of the NWS Taunton SKYWARN program, has asked

to pass along information on their Weather Almanac Photo Contest. Below

is the pertinent information:

Do You Have A Photo Of An Amazing Weather Event?

Beautiful displays of local New England weather, such as, fall foliage,

winter storms, blooms in springtime, and summertime fun... then CBS4 has

the contest for you!

Submit your favorite photo of your favorite season for a chance to have

it published on the cover of the 2006 CBS4 Weather Almanac.

Email your photo with description and contact information to submit your

entry by emailing weather@cbs4boston.com. All photos will be reviewed by

the CBS4 Weather Team and selected on October 14, 2005.

The photograph must be one that you have taken, and in which you own

all rights. All entries must be sent by October 10, 2005 at noon. Read

the complete contest rules. No purchase necessary, rules are subject

to change.

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

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)

ARES SKYWARN Coordinator

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section 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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