Skywarn

What is SKYWARN?

SKYWARN is not sponsored by ARRL but by the National Weather Service. You do not have to be a Ham Radio Operator to become a spotter for SKYWARN but to be a licensed Ham is certainly an asset. Anybody interested in weather in general can be a spotter and is welcome to join.

In Orange County, Florida we have two training sessions for spotter candidates and are given by Melbourne NWS Office personel; the first session is usually in March or April and is called Basic Skywarn, the second session is in July or August and is Skywarn Advanced Training. For information regarding those classes call:
Jacques Voisin, N4JCV, Skywarn Manager for Orange County at 407-898-1207 or click on the name to send an E-mail.

What is expected from a SKYWARN spotter.

A SKYWARN spotter is the eyes of the National Weather Service on the ground. Doppler Radar is a great tool and give a multitude of information but it is not perfect. Below is the radar display during the tornado outbreak of 1998, the wind away from the radar site is red and the wind toward the same radar site is green and the separation between the two is in a hook shape, the tornado is near the bright red spot of the line. In this example the tornado is quite evident but this is not always the case, this is were the spotters come in play.


The first concern for a spotter is safety, nobody wants you to become a storm statistic, storm chasing can turn in an accident in a heartbeat, so unless you are an expert storm chaser, don't.

SKYWARN spotters provide critical information for all hazards in support of National Weather Service warning programs. Spotting for severe storms can be dangerous and requires great skill.

• Tornadoes.- Most tornadoes move from the Southwest to the Northeast. The best view of the storm is from the Southeast of the storm.
• Hail.- The largest hail usually just precede a tornado. Report the size of the largest hailstones. Use coin size or well known object such as golf ball, baseball, etc.
• Wind.- When reporting wind speed tell if it is estimated or measured.

Citizen Weather Observer Program

The Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP) is program that includes volunteers who have weather Stations and shares their data. The program is nation wide. Many members are amateur radio operators but this is not a requirement.
For more information on the program check the following URL: http://www.wxqa.com. The data collected are shared with many people through "APRSWXNET" which is combination of Internet and Amateur Radio.

Our response when storm threatens Central Florida.

Orange County, Florida Auxiliary Communications will respond regardless of where a storm hits Florida with the exception of the Panhandle. Here are the two scenarios:

Hurricane hits away from Central Florida

Orange, Seminole and Osceola Counties are designated as host area in the Florida Disaster Plan in the case of an evacuation from South Florida, the East or West coast; when a storm hits the Panhandle most of the evacuees go North.

When we are the host area, OC-AC and the groups in Seminole and Osceola will provide communication backup in case of a malfunction or overload of the phone and cellular systems. This can keep us plenty busy! In 1992 when Andrew hit South Florida 25 shelters where open in Central Florida and the majority of them where in Orange County.

Storm threatens Central Florida

If this happens, the situation can become ugly very quickly depending on the strength of the storm. We may lose all normal mode of communication including law enforcement and Fire Rescue. Orange County, Florida Auxiliary Communications will have to assist the county as part of ESF-2 to provide communication from the PSAPS (Public Safety Answering Points) and the shelters which will not be a small task. We all have to be on the ready, just in case!

• OC-AC Participation in the NWS Tornado DRILL Febuary 14

10:10 a.m. -NWS sent the WX alert and tornado DRILL announcement
10:13 a.m. -Resource net initiated by KG4DZN
-Nine checkins
10:19 a.m. -KG4RQO secured to join office tornado exercise, monitored 442.525
10:23 a.m. -KG4RQO returned to net
10:25 a.m. -Roll called net participants for availability and weather conditions
10:30 a.m. -Net closed, tornado DRILL concluded

Net participants:
673 KG4DZN NCS
115 KG4RQO available as NCS only, wx clear sunny 72F
346 KF4LTF available, wx p.cloudy breezy 75F
002 WB4ULT available, wx p.cloudy breezy 76F
246 WB2UTI available, wx m.sunny 70's
355 KI4BUG available, wx p.sunny breezy 75F
009 N4JCV available (subject to call out), wx nice
280 KF4FQW available as NCS only, p.cloudy 70F
003 N2HBX available as mobile spotter (subject to call out), sunny breezy 75F

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