SKYWARN Newsletter #248

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Hello to all..

SKYWARN Activation Report for 1/14/08 Nor'easter..

SKYWARN Activation Report for 2/1/08 Ice Storm/Thunderstorm Wind Event..

SKYWARN Amateur Radio Spotter Dave McCracken-WA1WVV Passed Away..

New Bedford RACES Radio Officer, Chuck Pelletier-KD1DA Passed Away..

New National Hurricane Center Director Named and is an Amateur Radio Operator..

ARRL Letter Article: Wisconsin ARES Members Activated to Assist with Tornado Aftermath..

ARES E-Letter Article: Tornado Outbreak in the Missouri Ozarks..

ARRL Letter "In Brief" Article: Amateurs Activated as Tornado Strikes Mississippi Town..

ARRL Letter Article: Amateurs Lend a Hand as Deadly Storms Sweep Across Southern United States..

ARRL Letter Article: Florida Hams Help Out When NWS Goes Dark..

Newsletter Issued: 2/22/08.

SKYWARN Activation Report for the 1/14/08 Nor'easter..

SKYWARN was activated on Monday January 14th for a nor'easter. An

article was submitted to the ARRL and the report, which appeared

in the February ARES E-Letter is listed below:

+ New England Nor'easter ARES/RACES/SKYWARN Response

January 14, 2008 -- A Nor'easter prompted an activation of

ARES/RACES/SKYWARN groups across New England as the storm brought a

heavy wet snow to the region causing damage to trees and power lines

particularly in portions of Massachusetts, Northern Connecticut, and

Northwest Rhode Island. The National Weather Service (NWS) Taunton,

Massachusetts Amateur Radio station, WX1BOX, NWS Gray, Maine station

WX1GYX, and the Massachusetts State EOC and Region 1 Headquarters

covering northeast Massachusetts were active.

SKYWARN nets were activated to report snowfall and storm related

damage. Ray Weber, KA1JJM, and Eric Tuller, N1QKO, from Western

Massachusetts SKYWARN were active gathering reports, with the hardest

hit areas being in the Springfield area.

Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Eastern Massachusetts SEC and ARES SKYWARN

Coordinator for NWS Taunton, said "At the height of the storm, over

9,000 homes in the area lost power." The Mount Tom, 146.94 MHz

repeater was used.

In northern Connecticut, Roger Jeanfaivre, K1PAI, Hartford-Tolland

County SKYWARN Coordinator relayed reports from the 146.79 MHz Vernon

repeater, sponsored by the Pioneer Valley Radio Association (PVRA).

The KB1AEV Connecticut linked repeater system was also used.

In Rhode Island, ARES activated their snow desk providing reports on

road conditions and snowfall reports and SKYWARN there also monitored

the situation. John Buco, N1EGS, from Rhode Island SKYWARN, reported

significant tree and power line damage. Rhode Island EMA Coordinator

and ARES SEC Rick Andreano, K3OQH, and SKYWARN Coordinator Martin

Mendelson, closely monitored the situation.

The New England EchoLink/IRLP Reflector gateway system was active on

Echolink conference *NEW-ENG* Node: 9123/IRLP 9123. This served as an

interoperability hub between the Massachusetts State EOC, the

Massachusetts Region 1 Headquarters, NWS Taunton, Massachusetts and

NWS Gray, Maine. Snowfall and damage reports were received from over

20 connections that were attached to the system.

In Central and Eastern Massachusetts, North Shore SKYWARN was active

on the NSRA 145.47 MHz Danvers repeater with SKYWARN monitoring in

Central Massachusetts on the 146.97 MHz Paxton repeater. The 146.895

MHz Walpole repeater operated under emergency power. "We had numerous

trees and wires down with the weight of the snow," said Roger Turner,

W1ZSA, Walpole EMA Director and Norfolk County SKYWARN Coordinator.

Tom Kinahan, N1CPE, Massachusetts State RACES Radio Officer, relayed

a report from Public Information Officer Peter Judge at Massachusetts

Emergency Management HQ in Framingham that at the height of the storm

45,000 people were without power in the state. Kinahan did a shift at

the State EOC and staffed the State EOC with ham operators starting

at midnight Monday and securing at 4 PM Monday afternoon. -- Rob

Macedo, KD1CY, Eastern Massachusetts SEC and ARES SKYWARN Coordinator

for NWS Taunton, Massachusetts

SKYWARN Activation Report for 2/1/08 Ice Storm/Wind/Minor Flood Event..

SKYWARN was activated formally on February 1st, 2008 as icing conditions

along with minor wind damage and flooding affected portions of Southern

New England. WX1BOX was activated by Carl Aveni-N1FY and Rob Macedo-KD1CY.

Ice storm conditions occurred across portions of Northern Connecticut

and Western and Central Massachusetts particularly at the higher

elevations. Icing reports of 1/4-1/2" were common in Montgomery,

Hardwick, New Braintree, Princeton, Sterling, and Spencer, Massachusetts.

Damage in the area communities, however, were spotty. Frequencies

monitored for SKYWARN included the 146.94-Mount Tom, 146.985-Greenfield

and the 146.97-Paxton Repeaters. In addition, the New England EchoLink/IRLP

VoIP Reflector System was utilized and monitored. Ray Weber-KA1JJM

provided reports from Western Massachusetts SKYWARN.

Roger Jeanfaivre-K1PAI had the Hartford-Tolland County Connecticut

SKYWARN Net active on the 146.790-Vernon, CT Repeater for call-ups as

required. Icing in the higher elevations reached 1/4-1/3" with some

isolated large limb damage in Tolland, CT. Also, minor street

flooding was reported in several communities in both Northwest

Connecticut and Southwest Massachusetts with rainfall amounts

of 1.5-2.5" over this area as the ice changed to rain.

In Southern New Hampshire, icing was reported via the N1IMO linked

repeater system with 1/2" icing reported in Peterborough, NH and

Jaffrey, New Hampshire. No damage was that reported from the icing.

As conditions warmed and heavier precipitation moved into Rhode Island

and Southeast Massachusetts moved towards flooding, strong winds

and thunderstorm activity. In Boston, Massachusetts, Talbot Avenue

from Bernard to Norwell Streets was closed due to flooding. As we

moved towards late evening, thunderstorms formed producing ground

strikes of lightning that resulted in a structure being hit by

lightning on Montgomery Street in Haverhill, Massachusetts with

thunderstorms reported in Lincoln, RI, New Bedford, Massachusetts,

Coventry RI and the Brockton, Mass. area. Minor street flooding

covered both lanes of Route 3 near Exit 8. N1XRS-Tony, reported

that his weather station had a measured wind gust around 1115 PM

of a 53 MPH measured wind gust in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts

with urban flooding with 2 feet of water reported on Purchase and

Sawyer streets with both streets closed due to flooding.

The activation was secured on 1230 AM Saturday February 2nd, 2008.

Special thanks to all those that assisted in this SKYWARN Activation.

SKYWARN Amateur Radio Spotter Dave McCracken-WA1WVV Passed Away..

Earlier in February, the sad news was received that Dave McCracken-WA1WVV

passed away shortly before Christmas. Dave had a long illness yet

provided a number of key SKYWARN weather related damage and meteorological

reports over the past several years. Dave will definitely be missed and

Edie McCracken-K1EKO, Dave's mother, passed this information on to me.

New Bedford RACES Radio Officer, Chuck Pelletier-KD1DA Passed Away..

New Bedford RACES Radio Officer and longtime volunteer of the city

of New Bedford Emergency Management Agency, Chuck Pelletier-KD1DA

passed away after a long illness. Chuck participated in many of

the RACES Nets held monthly for the city of New Bedford, provided

SKYWARN reports to the National Weather Service when available and

supported the New Bedford Emergency Management Agency for many years.

Chuck was also a longtime member of the Southeast Massachusetts

Amateur Radio Association (SEMARA) Club. More information on Chuck's

passing can be seen at the SEMARA web site. See link below:

http://www.semara.org/

New National Hurricane Center Director Named and is an Amateur Radio Operator..

NOAA and the National Hurricane Center/Tropical Prediction Center named

a new director, veteran meteorologist Bill Read. Bill Read is also an

Amateur Radio Operator. The announcements can be seen at the following

link:

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080125_read.html

The ARRL Letter had an "In Brief" article about Bill Read being an

Amateur Radio Operator and this was also on the ARRL web site. See

the "In Brief" article from the ARRL web listed below:

* Radio Amateur Named Head of Tropical Prediction Center: Veteran

meteorologist Bill Read, KB5FYA, was named the new director of the

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Tropical

Prediction Center, which includes the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

earlier this month. Read had served as the Center's acting deputy

director since August 2007. The NHC has a dedicated amateur station

on-site -- W4EHW -- and has worked closely with hams for decades. In

announcing Read's appointment to head the Center, NOAA Administrator

Conrad Lautenbacher cited Read's three decades of experience with the

agency and of his reputation as "a trusted consultant to emergency

managers" in the Houston area. NOAA's Tropical Prediction Center

contains three divisions: The National Hurricane Center -- provides

forecasts of the movement and strength of tropical weather systems and

issues watches and warnings for the US and surrounding areas; The

Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch -- issues year-round marine

forecasts and warnings over the tropical and subtropical North Atlantic

and eastern Pacific, produces tropical cyclone position and intensity

estimates and provides operational support during landfalling hurricane

and tropical storm events; The Technical Support Branch -- provides

support for the Center's computer and communications systems, developing

new techniques for tropical cyclone and tropical weather analysis and

prediction.

ARRL Letter Article: Wisconsin ARES Members Activated to Assist with Tornado Aftermath..

The following ARRL Letter article discusses Wisconsin ARES reaction

to a tornado in early January 2008.

==> WISCONSIN ARES MEMBERS ACTIVATED TO ASSIST WITH TORNADO AFTERMATH

A rare January EF3 tornado in Wisconsin destroyed houses and knocked out

power shortly after 4 PM (local time) Monday, January 7, displacing

about 160 people. The Red Cross activated members of the Kenosha County

and Racine County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) groups to

provide logistical communications at the two relief shelters in Kenosha

County, as well as from a communications station at the Kenosha County

Emergency Operation Center. Riding along with Red Cross teams, ARES

members helped relay damage assessments back to the Red Cross building

in Racine.

"Providing communications is essential," said Assistant Emergency

Coordinator for the Racine County ARES Alex Voss, N9RGX. "We set up a

communications network at the Red Cross building in Racine, outside of

the affected area. We were ready to go when activated. I couldn't be

more proud of our volunteers. We will work with the responding agencies

as long as they need us. We'll take what we've learned this time and use

it to improve our response in the future."

According to ARRL Wisconsin Section Emergency Coordinator William M.

Niemuth, KB9ENO, Wheatland, Somers and the city of Kenosha were hardest

hit by the storm. "In Wheatland, 20 homes were destroyed and at least 50

homes had some kind of damage. In Kenosha, six homes were destroyed and

almost 30 were damaged. There were a handful of homes in other parts of

the county with minor damage." An unknown number of cars were blown off

the road on Highway 50 near Highway O, said Sgt Gil Benn of the Kenosha

County Sheriff's Department.

"It was a severe storm with a lot of damage," Kenosha County Sheriff

David Beth said. "In all my time here, I have never, ever, seen any

damage to this degree. This is something I've only seen on TV that

happens in other places, but during the middle of January this is

something absolutely incredible that happened for us." Until the storms

on Monday, there has been only one tornado in January since 1844,

according to data from the National Weather Service.

Twelve people were treated at area hospitals for storm-related injuries,

but none of the injuries was major. There were no fatalities.

The tornado disrupted legal proceedings as at least 300 people evacuated

to a courthouse basement as a precaution. A Kenosha County Circuit judge

who was presiding over opening testimony in a high-profile murder trial

said he couldn't believe it when the deputy told him that he and the 50

or so people in the courtroom had to be evacuated because of a tornado

warning. He said he wasn't scared. "It's a first," he said while waiting

in the basement. "I've actually had...warnings occur during jury trials

before and frankly I just ignored them, but not in January."

Niemuth thanked the 18 ARES and RACES members who responded. "I bet this

morning that [the 18 responders] never thought they would be responding

to help their community recover from an EF3 tornado by evening! But, the

reality is emergency and disaster situations most always catch us by

surprise. That is why we train and prepare."

Sherriff Beth concurred: "It was heart-wrenching to see how most of

these people are volunteers...and they just strap on their clothes, they

leave their loved ones at home and they go running to help others.

Usually we're used to an incident that happens here in one spot, and

this happened over miles. This happened from southwestern Wisconsin all

the way over to Kenosha and everybody did their job. Everybody did what

they had to do." -- Some information provided by Racine County

Emergency Coordinator Jim Markstrom, KB9MMA; Racine County Assistant

Emergency Coordinator Alexander Voss, N9RGX; ARRL Wisconsin Section

Emergency Coordinator William M. Niemuth, KB9ENO; David Voss, WB9USI,

and KenoshaNews.com.

ARES E-Letter Article: Tornado Outbreak in the Missouri Ozarks..

The following is an ARES E-Letter Article from February 2008 on the

Tornado Outbreak that affected the Missouri Ozarks in early January.

+ Tornado Outbreak Response in the Ozarks

SKYWARN operators tracked the largest outbreak of tornados ever

experienced during the month of January in Missouri. Long-range

forecast models had identified the weather pattern ten days ahead of

the outbreak, which occurred January 7-8. Broadcasts of the hazardous

weather outlook were made on NOAA weather radio, the Southwest

Missouri Regional SKYWARN repeater N0NWS on 145.49 MHz, and other

local SKYWARN repeaters throughout the National Weather Service

(Springfield, Missouri office) warning area. ARES groups, emergency

managers and SKYWARN spotter groups were well prepared.

At 1:55 PM on January 7, the first tornado watch was issued and

immediately transmitted on the N0NWS repeater, with the regional

SKYWARN network placed in standby mode by NCS Jim Sellars, N0UAM.

Bill Davis, KC0KQT, Meteorologist-in-Charge in Springfield, operated

the N0NWS amateur station located at the NWS office and monitored

emergency traffic and severe weather reports.

By 5 PM, tornado warnings were in effect for several counties in the

Missouri Ozarks and the full 37 county regional SKYWARN network was

active. James Vroman, AC0BN, reported a tornado on the ground just

southwest of Monett, Missouri, to the NWS via the 146.97 MHz Ozarks

ARS club SKYWARN repeater. The EF-2 tornado struck a mobile home park

there. Amateurs passed ground truths to the NWS, confirming what the

RADAR operator saw. The NWS was able to provide increased warning

times for people living along storm tracks. Scott Hilmes, KC0WTL, was

also intercepting the storms along with professional storm chaser

Randy Hicks, providing reports on wall clouds, funnels and tornadoes

in the Lawrence, Christian and Greene county areas to the NWS.

Randy Atkinson, KC0IQM, Terry Shoemaker, KE4LQW, and Christian County

ARES EC/Deputy Regional SKYWARN Coordinator Pat Conway, WA6JGM, acted

as net controls on the 145.23 MHz Highlandville ARES repeater in

Christian County. They coordinated the efforts of 30 mobile intercept

spotters as they tracked the repetitive storms crossing their area

through the early evening.

Greene County ARES/RACES EC Ken Baremore, W0KRB, monitored numerous

repeaters and assisted the Red Cross and the Greene County EOC with

staffing and response.

After 6 PM, super cell thunderstorms were producing tornadoes in

Lawrence, Greene and Webster counties simultaneously. Numerous mobile

intercept and fixed SKYWARN spotters provided ground truth reports of

wall clouds, funnels and at least 10 confirmed tornadoes in these

counties.

Mobile operators Jeff Johnson, K0NI, Ian Horton, KB0UTW, Doug

Schumpert, K0DPS, and Bob Hessee, N0XJJ, intercepted an EF-3 tornado

northeast of Springfield and reported on it until it was near Conway

in Webster County where they were blocked by a poor highway network.

They stopped and rendered aid along the damage path in the Strafford

and Marshfield areas until other first responders arrived on the

scene. John Jackson, WA0DFE, repeatedly crossed the tornado path

relaying critical information to the Greene County EC, NWS and

emergency responders. At the same time, mobile intercept and fixed

spotters were reporting damages in southwest Greene County while

continuing to track the super cells crossing the area, reporting wall

clouds, funnels, baseball size hail and dangerous winds of more than

70 miles per hour.

By 7 PM, Steve Palmer, KA0SPM, activated the damage assessment and

information net on the 146.91 MHz W0EBE repeater and began relaying

storm damage reports to the NWS and helping pre-stage spotters across

the rest of the region.

After a tornado would rip through an area, Amateur Radio mobile

reports became damage reports as the hams metamorphosed from storm

spotters to first responders. The Springfield NWS office itself

became a target of two tornadoes, forcing meteorologists and liaison

Rod Kittleman, K0ADI, to take cover in the NWS tornado bunker and

relinquishing forecasting and warning responsibilities to the

National Weather Forecasting office in Paducah, Kentucky.

At 7:50 PM, the Storm Prediction Center issued tornado watch #5, with

the designation of "This is a particularly dangerous situation,"

meaning that long track, strong to violent tornadoes were expected.

By 8 PM, severe storms were moving northeast on a line from extreme

southwest Missouri into central Missouri along the Interstate 44

corridor. These storms were "training," which means one storm was

following another. McDonald County, Missouri, was under 6 to 8

separate tornado warnings within an eight-hour period.

The regional SKYWARN net remained active until the threat of severe

weather no longer existed, coinciding with the Tornado Watch

expiration at 5 AM, Tuesday morning. Three people were killed and

about 20 were injured during this tornado outbreak. Multiple repeater

systems were used and hundreds of Amateur Radio emergency responders

contributed thousands of man-hours to enhance the safety of the

citizens of southwest Missouri and Kansas. -- Rod Kittleman, K0ADI,

Southwest Missouri ARRL PIO

ARRL Letter "In Brief" Article: Amateurs Activated as Tornado Strikes Mississippi Town..

The following ARRL Letter "In Brief" Article talks about Amateurs

Activated as a Tornado strikes a Mississippi town.

* Amateurs Activated as Tornado Strikes Mississippi Town: On the

afternoon of January 10, an EF3 tornado hit Caledonia, Mississippi,

approximately 60 miles southeast of Tupelo. The tornado caused major

damage to the town of 1000 people; an elementary school gymnasium was

severely damaged. The Lowndes County Emergency Operations Center

activated area storm spotters in advance of the approaching storm; hams

assigned to the EOC activated the Amateur Radio station there and

started to gather information on the weather. After the storm passed,

EOC personnel requested assistance from radio operators to help with

reports of major damage to homes and buildings in the town. The EOC set

up a command post at the fire station downtown and asked members of ARES

to provide communication between the EOC and Red Cross; the Red Cross

had set up a shelter at a local church not too far from the affected

area, and local amateurs set up portable lights and generators. Hams

maintained communication until 7 PM local time. Members of the Monroe

County Amateur Radio Club set up their repeater for a secondary

emergency contact frequency in Monroe County; Lowndes County is just

south of Monroe County. -- Information provided by Doug Scallions,

KD5FUO, ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Lowndes County

ARRL Letter Article: Amateurs Lend a Hand as Deadly Storms Sweep Across Southern United States..

The following is an ARRL Letter article on the deadly storms that hit

the region on Tuesday February 5th, 2008.

==> AMATEURS LEND A HAND AS DEADLY STORMS SWEEP ACROSS SOUTHERN UNITED STATES

At least 54 people were killed and hundreds injured Tuesday and

Wednesday by dozens of tornadoes that plowed across Mississippi,

Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama in the nation's deadliest

barrage of twisters in almost 23 years. In spite of the disasters,

state and local emergency management officials once again discovered

that they could call on Amateur Radio operators to help out and get

communications up and going again after the infrastructure failed.

According to ARRL Southeastern Division Director Greg Sarratt, W4OZK,

"Four people were killed in Alabama as the storms damaged homes,

caused flooding and downed trees and power lines. North Alabama

SKYWARN, ARES and scores of Amateur Radio operators were up all night

long, providing vital communications to the National Weather Service

and Emergency Management Agencies all across the region. Once again,

Amateur Radio operators played a critical role before, during and

after the storms. I am proud of the level of professionalism and

critical information that these operators provided our served

agencies."

Hundreds of houses were damaged or destroyed across the region.

Authorities had no immediate cost estimate of the damage. The storms

flattened entire streets, smashed warehouses and sent tractor-trailers

flying. Houses were reduced to splintered piles of lumber. Some

looked like life-size dollhouses, their walls sheared away. Crews

going door-to-door to search for bodies had to contend with downed

power lines, snapped trees and flipped-over cars. Near hard-hit

Lafayette, Tennessee, cattle wandered through the debris. At least

12 people died in and around the town; more than 30 were killed in

Tennessee alone.

"It looks like the Lord took a Brillo pad and scrubbed the ground,"

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen said as he surveyed the damage

from a helicopter. "I don't think that I have seen, since I've been

governor, a tornado where the combination of the intensity of it and

the length of the track was as large as this one," he said. "That

track had to be 25 miles long. [The twister] didn't skip like a lot

of them do...It's just 25 miles of a tornado sitting on the ground."

Most communities had ample warning that the storms were coming.

Forecasters had warned for days that severe weather was possible.

The National Weather Service issued more than 1000 tornado warnings

from 3 PM Tuesday-6 AM Wednesday in the 11-state area where the

weather was heading. The conditions for bad weather had lined up so

perfectly that the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma put

out an alert six days in advance.

Tennessee Section Emergency Coordinator Lowell Bennington, WD4DJW,

said that approximately 25 hams in Madison County had participated in

SKYWARN activities before the storm arrived; one ham actually spotted

the twister. "Two hams reported to the Tennessee Emergency Management

Agency-West, assisting in passing radio communication. A couple of

hams assisted Madison County EMA in setting up their Mobile Command

Post. On Wednesday, 10 teams were dispatched to do Damage Assessment.

These teams were composed of three individuals, one of whom was an

Amateur Radio operator," he said.

Bennington said that hams in Middle Tennessee "utilized our vast

networks of linked 2 meter repeater systems as well as our UHF-linked

system in support of the National Weather Service, Tennessee Emergency

Management, law enforcement agencies and participating local EMA

offices. Operators from Wilson County were dispatched to the

Nashville NWS office and they operated from there until around

3:30 AM Thursday, giving and taking weather reports."

Alabama ARES District 6 Emergency Coordinator Doug Hilton, WD0UG,

said his area was hit hard by a fast-moving line of severe weather;

District 6 covers the northern counties of Alabama. Hilton contacted

the NWS office in Huntsville early Wednesday regarding possible

SKYWARN activation. "After discussing the situation with NWS

personnel, it was decided that since this was going to be a long

event, that would probably last all night, it was best not to tie up

the local repeaters early on. I opened an informal SKYWARN net to get

weather information out to the amateur community during the afternoon,

and several Madison County hams participated in the net. We closed

the net after about an hour and re-opened it that evening at 7,"

he said. Madison County ARES was activated that evening and other

hams in the area joined in. Hilton said Northern Alabama has a

linked-repeater system that covers all 10 counties during emergency

conditions.

The storm churned into Western Alabama from Mississippi about 9 PM.

The main part of the storm started its destruction at 3 AM. Hilton

said, "The storm was a killer, and the extra lead time that people

got from the great staff at NWS probably led to a reduction in

casualties. A massive long-track EF-3 tornado hit Lawrence County

and caused 3 fatalities and more than 20 people were injured."

Hilton said the NWS estimated the twister to be 1/2 mile wide with

a path length of 18.7 miles, causing "extreme destruction of property."

An EF-4 tornado with peak winds of 180 MPH went through Jackson County,

causing one fatality.

Hilton said hams were able to provide many timely situation reports,

"and 'ground truth' is always the best indicator of reality. Many of

the hams who stayed up all night were also prepared to leave their

homes at a moment's notice to go anywhere in the District, if needed.

The incredible teamwork of this ARES/SKYWARN team and the level of

professionalism was something to behold."

Chris Shaw, W4BGN, Kentucky District Emergency Coordinator, said

several confirmed tornadoes touched down throughout his state.

"Kentucky hams activated weather nets, while others were out and

about spotting for severe weather. Allen and Monroe Counties in

South Central Kentucky were especially hard hit. Some repeaters lost

power and hams quickly adapted, going to emergency simplex

frequencies on 2 meters. The communications went very smooth and

seemed to be beneficial to many. Hams worked throughout the night to

help provide communications, especially to those areas without power."

President Bush gave assurances that his administration stood ready to

help. Teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were

sent to the region and activated an emergency center in Georgia,

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday. "We're

going to keep watching this."

"Loss of life, loss of property -- prayers can help and so can the

government," Bush said. "I do want the people in those states to know

the American people are standing with them." On Wednesday, Bush

called the governors of the affected states to offer help and to tell

them that "the American people hold those who suffered up in prayer."

While the weather was unusually severe, winter tornadoes are not

uncommon. The peak tornado season is late winter through midsummer,

but the storms can happen at any time of the year with the right

conditions. "All the clues were there. It was just unfortunate that

it came out the way it did," prediction center director Joseph

Schaefer said. Greg Carbin, warning coordination meteorologist at the

Oklahoma center, said there were 67 eyewitness accounts of tornadoes,

but some of those were probably twisters that were counted more than

once; the actual number is probably more like 30 or 40, he said.

As more ARES groups relay information to ARRL, we will update these

reports on the ARRL Web site. -- Some information provided by The

Weather Channel

ARRL Letter Article: Florida Hams Help Out When NWS Goes Dark

The following ARRL Letter Article talks about Florida Hams Assisting

when NWS Goes Dark after a phone outage.

==> FLORIDA HAMS HELP OUT WHEN NWS GOES DARK

On Tuesday, February 12, a tornado touched down in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Unfortunately, National Weather Service (NWS) alerts failed due to

problems with phone circuits. Dennis Decker, Warning Coordinator

Meteorologist with the NWS in Melbourne, said two of their four

transmission lines went down that afternoon around 3:30, but were back

up five hours later. Messages are carried to towers via telephone, he

said.

"That's a big issue when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA) weather alerting radio is not working," said

Brevard County Emergency Management Director Bob Lay. The county went

into backup mode, using the volunteer emergency alert system. The NWS

activated Amateur Radio operators to help get the word out about the

tornado warning. "We have ham operators to tell us when they see

something," Decker said.

Dan Fisher, AI4GK, of Palm Bay, Florida, said he tried to tune into a

weather frequency on his radio, but said, "I couldn't pick up anything.

The [station out of] Melbourne has a loud hum on it and nothing else."

Fisher and Emergency Coordinator for the Platinum Coast Amateur Radio

Society John Weatherly, AB4ET, said the group participated in an

emergency drill just last week that involved a tornado scenario. "We're

there when we're needed," Weatherly said. "We give the meteorologists a

warm and fuzzy feeling of what is really happening."

Although Tuesday's storms were dwarfed by the massive 2005 hurricanes,

transmitters were rendered useless in both situations. Dave Jacobs, Data

Acquisitions Property Manager at the NWS office in Melbourne, said that

when problems do occur, it is usually something to do with the telephone

lines. "It's our Achilles' heel," he said. Jacobs oversees the radio

system for Melbourne, checking its transmitters three times daily to

ensure they are working.

Weather Service officials in Melbourne know the alert announcing the

first tornado watch at 2:25 PM went out across the radio system. At 3

PM, when another weather alert went out, officials determined they had a

problem with the Melbourne and Orlando transmitters. Jacobs said he had

just listened as the computer system read the entire message in the

Melbourne office, a stage in the alert process that occurs before the

message reaches phone lines. He then received a telephone call from a

county official saying only half of the second weather alert was

broadcast. -- Information provided by Floridatoday.com

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://ares.ema.arrl.org

http://www.wx1box.org

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