SKYWARN Newsletter #249

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Hello to all..

SKYWARN Training Session to be Offered in Newburyport on Saturday 3/8/08 from 1-4 PM..

Advanced Emergency Communications Workshop on April 12th, 2008 from 9 AM-4 PM in Walpole, Mass..

VoIP Hurricane Prep Net Goes to New Format..

SKYWARN Training Update for Forecaster Driven Sessions..

SKYWARN Self-Activation Report for 2/10/08 Snow Squalls and Strong Winds..

SKYWARN Activation Report for 2/13/08 Storm..

SKYWARN Self-Activation Report for 2/18/08 Wind Event..

SKYWARN Self-Activation Report for 2/22/08 Moderate Snow Storm..

Newsletter Issued: 2/23/08.

SKYWARN Training Session to be Offered in Newburyport on Saturday 3/8/08 from 1-4 PM..

The first ever Amateur Radio SKYWARN Coordinator led SKYWARN class will

take place on Saturday March 8th at Newburyport Emergency Management

Agency. See Press Release below for information on the SKYWARN Training

session to be held in Newburyport.

SKYWARN Training in Newburyport, Massachusetts on March 8th, 2008

from 1-4 PM at Newburyport Emergency Management

The National Weather Service Taunton Amateur Radio SKYWARN Program

and Newburyport Emergency Management is sponsoring a SKYWARN Training

class on Saturday March 8th, 2008 from 1-4 PM at the Newburyport

Emergency Management Agency on Low Street in Newburyport,

Massachusetts. Space is limited to 35 people so pre-registration is

required.

SKYWARN is the National Weather Service’s volunteer weather spotting

program where timely severe weather reporting into the National

Weather Service Forecast office helps the National Weather Service

save lives and property. You do not need to be an Amateur Radio

Operator to be trained in the SKYWARN program.

The program will be taught by Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES)

SKYWARN Coordinator for NWS Taunton and Eastern Massachusetts ARES

Section Emergency Coordinator, Rob Macedo-KD1CY and North Shore

Assistant SKYWARN Coordinator and ARES Emergency Coordinator, Jim

Palmer-KB1KQW. The program will teach people on what to report when

severe weather threatens for any time of year and cloud features that

are very important to spotting severe thunderstorm activity in the

region.

Those interested can contact the following people via email to

pre-register:

Ralph York-N1ZAG: merrimackriver@hotmail.com

Jim Palmer-KB1KQW: kb1kqw@nsradio.org

Rob Macedo-KD1CY: kd1cy@ema.arrl.org

Again, space is limited to 35 people so please pre-register. Thanks

to all for their continued support of Newburyport Emergency

Management and the NWS Taunton SKYWARN program!

Advanced Emergency Communications Workshop on April 12th, 2008 from 9 AM-4 PM in Walpole, Mass..

The following is a posting for the Advanced Emergency Communications

Workshop scheduled for Saturday April 12th, 2008 in Walpole,

Massachusetts. See announcement below:

Advanced Communications Workshop (ACW)

Saturday, April 12, 2008, 9AM to 4PM

The Walpole Emergency Management Communications Group will be hosting

an Advanced Communications Workshop (ACW). Rob Macedo, KD1CY and the

Eastern Massachusetts ARES District Emergency Coordinator staff of

instructors will present this program.

The ACW will be held on Saturday from 9 AM-4 PM, April 12, 2008, at

the Walpole Senior Center, Walpole Town Hall, 135 School Street,

Walpole, Massachusetts.

Lunch will be provided at no coerced charge to those participating in

the workshop, but we appreciate and accept donations from whoever can

provide them.

Topics in the workshop will include:

Applications of VoIP modes (EchoLink, IRLP and D-Star) in Emergency Communications

Packet Radio

Winlink

Advanced Go Kits

We also hope to be able to answer many of your setup and operational

questions on digital modes.

This program will be of particular interest to anyone involved in

Emergency Communications, Digital Communications, ARES, RACES and/or

the National Weather Service SKYWARN Program.

In order to plan for handouts, etc., pre-registration is requested.

Directions to the Walpole Town Hall:

http://maps.yahoo.com/

http://www.mapquest.com/

From Boston:

Take Route 95 south to Exit 10 - Coney Street. Turn right at top of

exit ramp. Turn left at the lights on to Route 1. (The Walpole Mall

will be on the right)

Take Route 27 (High Plain Street) at next set of lights at top of hill.

Big Y is on left. Route 27 X through 3 sets of traffic lights. Route 27

(High Plain Street) merges left onto East Street. Take left onto

School Street (after passing Blessed Sacrament Church on left at

Diamond Street).

The Town Hall (former school building) is on right. Parking is in the

rear. Entrance to meeting room is on left as you face the rear of

building.

From the South:

Take Route 95 north to Exit 9 - Route 1.

Take Route 1 north to lights at Route 27 (High Plain Street)

(Applebee's on your right). At lights take left onto

Route 27(High Plain Street). Big Y is on left. Route 27 X through 3

sets of traffic lights. Route 27 (High Plain Street) merges left onto

East Street. Take left onto School Street (after passing Blessed

Sacrament Church on left at Diamond Street). The Town Hall (former

school building) is on right. Parking is in the rear. Entrance to

meeting room is on left as you face the rear of building.

From the west - Medfield - Route 109

Take Route 27 to Walpole Center. Through set of lights at Route 1A,

(Main Street). School Street is the next intersection. Right onto

School Street. The Town Hall (former school building) is on right.

Parking in rear. Entrance to meeting room is on left as you face the

rear of building.

There will be talk-in on the 146.895-Walpole Repeater, PL: 123.0.

For additional information and registration contact:

W1ZSA-Roger Turner rfturner@gis.net or wlp1ema@aol.com

K1HRV-Dave Doe d.doe@comcast.net

KD1CY-Rob Macedo rmacedo@rcn.com

There will be talk-in on the 146.895-Walpole Repeater, PL: 123.0.

This training should be a worthwhile endeavor for anyone interested

in learning more about emergency communications and amateur radio in

general.

VoIP Hurricane Prep Net Goes to New Format..

The VoIP Hurricane Prep Net is now on a monthly format where the net

meets on the first Saturday of each month at 7 PM Eastern Time. Each

net now features a presentation topic to generate more interest. The

presentation for the March 2008 Net will be on VoIP Hurricane Net

Spotter Reporting and Criteria. This will be geared toward hurricanes

leveraging the SKYWARN Reporting criteria. Below is the announcement

that was seen on the VoIP Hurricane Net web site at http://www.voipwx.net

on the net format changes.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team has made a decision on format

changes for the Weekly Prep net in 2008 which was announced on the

last weekly net for 2007 on 12/15/07. Polls were opened to solicit

people's inputs back in late November. Unfortunately, the input

represented a very small number of the overall group so it was a bit

difficult to determine what people's interests would be in any

changes to the net so the net management team, factoring in what

input we did get from the polls and our own vision for the net has

come up with the following changes for 2008:

-The VoIP Hurricane Prep Net will meet monthly in the months of

December through May on the first weekend of the month at 0000 UTC

which is Saturday Evening for much of North America. For each net

with the exception of the net in December which typically coincides

with SKYWARN Recognition Day, we will have a presentation/training

session done on the net to attract interest.

-During Hurricane Season, we will move the net from monthly to weekly

to attract more interest. The first net of each month will remain at

0000 UTC/Saturday Evening for much of North America and we will

continue to do presentations unless hurricane activations preclude

the time required to do the presentations. An option that will be

finalized as we get closer to the 2008 season is whether the other

nets that take place during the months in Hurricane Season will take

place on that same time slot as the first net of the month or whether

we will have that net take place on a weeknight. This will be decided

as we move closer to the 2008 Hurricane Season. Based on the poll

input, a Thursday Evening got the most votes as a potential date for

a weeknight net. A decision will be made in the late April/early May

2008 timeframe on whether the net will be held weekly on the weekend

during hurricane season or whether it will follow a first weekend of

the month, and then weeknight on the remaining weeks of the month

format during hurricane season.

SKYWARN Training Update for Forecaster Driven Sessions..

As stated in SKYWARN Newsletter #247 in the SKYWARN Strategy Meeting

Summaries, there will only be 7 SKYWARN Training sessions led by

NWS Taunton forecasters in 2008 through the September timeframe with

the possibility of an additional session or two in the Fall and Amateur

Radio Coordinators will be filling in the gaps to do SKYWARN Training

sessions where possible. The training plans that are forecaster

driven will center around the major metropolitan areas of

Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. A NWS Forecaster who

is the Meteorologist-In-Charge of the CWSU in Nashua, NH,

Scott Reynolds-KC2JCB, who is also the Assistant ARES Emergency

Coordinator for SKYWARN in Hillsborough County NH, will likely put

on a session for Hillsborough County, NH with one forecaster driven

session in Cheshire County, New Hampshire.

As of this newsletter, we are reasonably close to confirming three

SKYWARN Training sessions. One session is in Boston, Massachusetts,

the second session is in Worcester, Massachusetts and the third

session is in Hartford, Connecticut. The next SKYWARN Newsletter will

likely have the SKYWARN Training Schedule for this session as well

as any other forecaster driven SKYWARN Training sessions that may

get confirmed over the period of time between this newsletter and

the next newsletter.

SKYWARN Self-Activation Report for 2/10/08 Snow Squalls and Strong Winds..

SKYWARN was self-activated across portions of Southern New England for

snow squalls that produced whiteout conditions and strong winds with

the winds causing isolated pockets of wind damage. Some of the strong

winds were associated with the snow squalls and some of the strong

winds were associated with the cold arctic air coming in behind the

front.

Across the North Shore, as snow squalls moved through the area,

measured wind gusts of 50-55 MPH occurred. This resulted in isolated

pockets of wind damage in Salem, Amesbury, Newburyport, and Beverly,

Massachusetts with the trees and wires falling on a couple of cars

in Newburyport and Beverly, Massachusetts. North Shore SKYWARN was

active on the 145.47-Danvers Repeater through the efforts of Jim

Palmer-KB1KQW acting as net control.

Some of the snow squalls had some interesting shapes and configuration

of the snow flakes. This was captured in a picture sent by Mike

Naselroad-N1EVH and forwarded to NWS Taunton. In the picture, it

depicted snow flakes that were in the shape of small snow balls

likely having to do with the convective nature of the snow squalls.

NWS forecasters have the picture as a record for this event.

As a batch of snow squalls moved through the extreme South Coastal

Rhode Island and Massachusetts area, tree limbs were blown down with

power outages in Little Compton, Rhode Island and with trees and

wires down on Elm street and Gould Streets in Dartmouth,

Massachusetts. SKYWARN was active on the 145.49-Fairhaven Repeater

which was linked into the New England VoIP EchoLink/IRLP gateway

system.

As a new batch of snow squalls associated with the cold front moved

through the region, additional wind damage occurred along and behind

the cold front. In Middlefield, Massachusetts, large limbs were blown

down on wires off skyline trail, with 2 trees down blocking Suffield

Street in Agawam and a tree down on wires and a car on Route 159

with a power outage in Suffield, CT. As the front made its way through

Rhode Island and Southeast Massachusetts, strong winds downed large

branches over a 1/2 mile stretch of Route 102 in Burrillville, RI

with a power pole blown down on Standish Road and wires down in

North Kingstown, RI and Fall River, Massachusetts. Measured wind gusts

of 40-50 MPH were common in this area as the damage occurred. SKYWARN

was active with Martin Mendelson-N1JMA and Bill Boyes-KB1G monitoring.

Behind the cold front, additional pockets of isolated wind damage

occurred in Westport, and Rochester, Massachusetts as well as West

Hartford, Connecticut.

Special thanks to all those that assisted in this Self-Activation of

SKYWARN!

SKYWARN Activation Report for 2/13/08 Storm..

SKYWARN was activated formally at 1130 AM Wednesday Morning as

the potential for flooding and snow/ice storm conditions gripped

Southern New England. Carl Aveni-N1FY began operations at WX1BOX

and Rob Macedo-KD1CY assisted in those operations later on Wednesday

Afternoon.

The storm that gripped the region was responsible for 4-8" of snowfall

with isolated higher amounts across interior Massachusetts and Southern

New Hampshire followed by icing and then heavy rainfall of 2-3", this

combination led to flooding in urban and poor drainage areas as well

as warning criteria icing. Strong winds gripped portions of Rhode Island

and Southeast Massachusetts with wind damage reported in this area.

SKYWARN was active on the 146.94-Mount Tom, 146.985-Greenfield,

146.925-Worcester, 146.97-Paxton, 146.76-Scituate, RI, 146.895-Walpole,

145.47-Danvers, 147.180-Bridgewater, 147.225-Killingly, CT and the

145.49-Fairhaven Repeaters with the New England VoIP EchoLink/IRLP

Reflector system also active on Echolink conference *NEW-ENG* Node: 9123

and IRLP reflector 9123. SKYWARN Coordinators Ray Weber-KA1JJM and

Eric Tuller-N1QKO from Western Massachusetts SKYWARN along with Roger

Jeanfaivre-K1PAI for Hartford-Tolland County SKYWARN, K1VSC-Ron

Pariseau from Windham County SKYWARN were active as was Jim Palmer-KB1KQW

from North Shore SKYWARN and Roger Turner-W1ZSA and Dave Doe-K1HRV

from Norfolk County SKYWARN.

Reports of flooding of streets and urban areas were common with road

closures in New Bedford and Holden, Massachusetts with lane closures

due to flooding in Allston on the Mass. Pike near the tolls. Other

locations with flooded streets included Greenfield, Northampton,

Springfield, Walpole and Norwood, Massachusetts. In Southern New Hampshire,

the Rte 10 and 202 intersection had 1-2 feet of water in the road in

Peterborough NH per ARES Emergency Coordinator for Hillsborough

County, NH, Jim Blaine-WD4JZO via the N1IMO linked Repeater system.

He also reported one-half inch radial icing in the towns of Jaffrey,

Peterborough, Bennington, Antrim, and Hillsborough, New Hampshire. No

damage from the icing was reported.

The heavy rainfall also resulted in the flooding of small streams and

brooks along with structural damage in an isolated case. WA1LAD-Gil

passed along information that an auto body shop roof collapsed under

the weight of 2-3" of heavy rainfall in Providence, RI. The Old Swamp

River was out of its banks in Weymouth and the Accord Brook was out

of its banks flooding yard on Prospect Street in Hingham. In Milford,

Massachusetts, the Huckleberry Brook was out of its banks and

expanded from a normal 4-5 foot wide brook to 10-15 feet wide and the

Charles River was over its banks at Dilla street near the Milford

Water Company. In Somerset, Massachusetts, the Buffington Brook was

out of its banks flooding county street and a nearby park. Significant

street flooding with cars stuck on Tiogue Avenue in Coventry, RI with

Champlain Street closed due to flooding in Blackstone, Mass. and

the Natick Avenue Bridge closed in Cranston, RI due to heavy rain

causing erosion of the bridge. Additional flooding reports were

received in North Shore communities from North Shore SKYWARN including

flooding near Balch Avenue near Route 113 in Groveland with Canal

Street in Salem, Massachusetts flooded with 3-4 feet of water on the

road way and a car stuck in flood waters.

In Connecticut, Hartford-Tolland County SKYWARN reported that Route

159 in Windsor, Connecticut was closed due to flooding with numerous

streets flooded as well as yards in Manchester and New Britain,

Connecticut. In Ellington, Connecticut, the Hockanum River went out

of its banks between Windermere Avenue and Vernon.

Wind damage became an issue across portions of Southeast Massachusetts

and Rhode Island as winds gusted up to 50 MPH. In Rochester, Massachusetts,

a tree went down across the road way with wires down with a tree down

across Elmdale Road near Quaker Lane in Scituate, RI. A tree was

down blocking route 44 east near the intersection to Interstate 495

in Middleborough, Massachusetts.

In Cheshire County, New Hampshire, Bruce Bohannon-WA1YZN that the

Ashwamp Brook was out of it banks at the point where it meets the

Ashuelot River and that the Ashuelot River was about 2 tenths of

a foot away from flood in the Swanzey and Keene, NH area. Bruce

was looking for an update for DPW on additional rainfall for the area.

Luckily, rainfall was ending across the region saving the area from

further flooding.

The SKYWARN Activation ended around 800 PM as the heavy rains and

strong winds and wintry conditions abated across the region. Special

thanks to all those that assisted in this SKYWARN Activation!

SKYWARN Self-Activation Report for 2/18/08 Wind Event..

SKYWARN was self-activated on Monday February 18th as winds that

were expected to be of marginal wind advisory criteria became a bit

stronger than expected causing more widespread pockets of wind damage.

Measured wind gusts of 50-60 MPH were common across Southeast

Massachusetts and Rhode Island with a measured wind gust to 70 MPH

reported on Blue Hill Monday Morning. SKYWARN was active on the

Fairhaven-145.49 Repeater and the New England VoIP Reflector System,

*NEW-ENG* EchoLink Conference node: 9123/IRLP reflector 9123.

Reports of trees down and power outages were first received out of

South Coastal Rhode Island in the Narragansett and North Kingstown,

RI area from Adam-KB1PTE. Also hard hit was the Fall River,

Massachusetts area where a tree went through a house on Belmont

Street and several other pockets of trees and wires down including

wires down on a car were reported. Some of the Fall River reports

came from Jim Cahill-N1TZM. In Warwick, RI, 2 windows were

blown out of a house With Scattered tree and power line damage

in Wareham, Lakeville, Plymouth, Rochester, West and East Bridgewater,

Whitman, Hanson, Norwell, Middleboro, Freetown, Sandwich, Halifax,

Falmouth and Kingston, Massachusetts. In New Bedford, Massachusetts,

a set of traffic lights were blown down due to the wind.

Measured wind gusts of 58 MPH were recorded in Barrington, RI, 52 MPH

in Hull, Massachusetts and 49 MPH in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts

between 10 and 11 AM. These winds were enough to bring down scattered

trees and power lines. Higher wind gusts may have occurred in other

areas based on the extent of the wind damage.

Wind subsided by Noon time and while flood warnings were issued for

portions of the area, flooding was confined to main stem rivers and

was minor and SKYWARN did not self-activate again for these warnings.

Special thanks to all those that assisted in this self-activation of

SKYWARN!

SKYWARN Self-Activation Report for 2/22/08 Moderate Snow Storm..

SKYWARN was self-activated on Friday February 22nd, 2008 for a moderate

snow storm that affected the region. Since snowfall rates were not as

intense as the December 13th event, this activation was handled as

a self-activation. Various SKYWARN groups called up nets on timed

intervals every few hours to pass on snowfall totals and changeover

in precipitation type across the region.

Hartford-Tolland County SKYWARN was active with roll calls on the

146.790-Vernon, CT Repeater with Roger Jeanfaivre-K1PAI. Reports

of snowfall in the 4-7" range with some light ice glazing occurred

in this region. Western Massachusetts SKYWARN was active on the

146.94-Mount Tom Repeater with reports of 5-9" of snow across portions

of Western Massachusetts. North Shore SKYWARN was active on the 145.47-

Danvers Repeater with snowfall totals in that area between 8-10.5 inches.

Other Ham Operators and SKYWARN Spotters from Western Massachusetts,

New Hampshire and Rhode Island SKYWARN were active giving reports and

some gave those reports over the EchoLink/IRLP New England Reflector

System on the EchoLink *NEW-ENG* Conference Node: 9123/IRLP 9123. Across

Rhode Island and Southeast Massachusetts amounts of 3-5" were common

except towards the Boston and north of Providence corridor where 5-7"

of snow were common in those areas. Across southern areas, a mix

with sleet/freezing rain and eventually rain held down accumulations

but the ice made for slippery travel on bridges such as the Newport

Bridge in Newport, RI and the Braga Bridge in Fall River, Massachusetts

where accidents occurred due to icy conditions.

The storm also caused a number of spin outs and accidents and slow traffic

on area highways but not the gridlock that was experienced in the

December 13th snowstorm partly due to the snow starting earlier in

the morning and the intensity of the snow being between 1-1.5" per

hour versus the 1.5-3" per hour snowfall rates of the December

13th event. Special thanks to all those that assisted in this

self-activation of SKYWARN!

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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