SKYWARN Newsletter #12

Hello to all,

Author of this newsletter named ARES SKYWARN Coordinator...
SKYWARN Training Update...
145.49 Repeater SKYWARN Weather Net Get Together...
Format for Winter Weather Advisories, Watches and Warnings...
Possible Pager Oppurtunity with Page New England...
SKYWARN Document Changes Forthcoming...

Newsletter is a bit briefer than normal due to work commitments and
a personal situation (non-amatuer radio) that needed to be ironed out.
Also, my apologies for getting this out one day late.

Author of this newsletter named ARES SKYWARN Coordinator...

Per Section Emergency Coordinator, Ray Wall, in an email that I receieved
this morning, I have now been named the ARES SKYWARN Coordinator and my
duties now include:

All ARES SKYWARN activities.
Training and assignments of ARES personnel involved in SKYWARN.
Maintain close contact with all EC's that have groups involved in SKYWARN
for planning and training.
Be responsible for the manning of the Taunton SKYWARN station including
all scheduling and training assignments.

I want to thank Ray Wall, N1KXJ, for expanding my role in SKYWARN and
look forward to the challenges ahead of me in pushing the future of
SKYWARN for Southern New England.

SKYWARN Training Update...

While no further movements can be reported on the sites mentioned previously,
I neglected to mention the site planned in late March for the Boston area
at Northeastern University that Bill Ricker N1VUX will be planning. Thanks
Bill for bringing this to my attention.

145.49 Repeater SKYWARN Weather Net Get Together...

Any interested weather spotter, or amateur radio operator, whether the
person is SKYWARN trained or not, are cordially invited to the Get Together
of the 145.49 Repeater SKYWARN Weather Net at Fairhaven Cable just off of
Route 6 in Fairhaven, MA. At this time, this is just going to be an informal
chit-chat, with area spotters bringing in items of interest for show and
tell,however, Hank-N1LTV, was hoping to plan something for this meeting, if
time permits, if not, Hank along with Tom-WA1KDD, Louie WA1GDE, and myself
may discuss at this meeting plans to have more get togethers with
presentations done that might be of interest to our group and to the
surronding area.

Directions:

To get to the Cablevision from:

Rte 140 South:

Take Exit 2 I 195 East, Cape Cod, and then take the Rte 240 Fairhaven exit.
Go straight through one set of lights take a left at the second set of
lights and continue down Rte 6 East about a 1/2 mile and you'll see CVI
Industries (Fairhaven Cable) on your left.

From I 195:

I 195 to Rte 240 Fairhaven, straight through one set of lights, take
a left at the second set of lights and continue down Rte 6 about a 1/2 mile
and Fairhaven cable will be on your left side.

Format for Winter Weather Advisories, Watches and Warnings...

In a discussion with Glenn Field during a visit at NWS Taunton, I was
informed of the policies in issuing Winter Weather Watches and warnings,
and also a new advisory to be issued for wind situations. I will detail
as much as I can remember here and perhaps formalize this information
in a later newsletter:

There will no longer be:

Snow Advisory
Freezing Rain Advisory
Sleet Advisory
Heavy Snow Warning
Ice Storm Warning

There will now be:

Winter Weather Advisory for (precip type)

Examples:

Winter Weather Advisory for Freezing Rain
Winter Weather Advisory for Snow
Winter Weather Advisory for Mixed Precipitation

This gives us just four types of issuances for this winter:

Winter Storm Watch
Winter Storm Warning (for precip type where appropriate)
Winter Weather Advisory for (precip type)
Blizzard Warning

Winter Weather Advisory/Winter Storm Warning issuances:

In Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, A Winter Weather
Advisory whenever four inches of snow is forecasted as an upper limit
of snow accumilation. Also a Winter Weather Advisory will be issued for
1/8" of icing based on QPF from computer models. A Winter Storm Warning
will be issued whenever more than 6 inches of snow is forecasted. 

Examples: (Snow Accumilation)

1-3 Inches (No advisory)
2-3 Inches (No advisory)
2-4 Inches (Winter Weather Advisory issued)
3-6 Inches (Winter Weather Advisory issued)
4-6 Inches (Winter Weather Advisory issued)
4-7 Inches (Winter Storm Warning issued)

In Southern New Hampshire, the criteria is more stringent. A Winter
Weather Advisory will only be issued when 5 inches of snow is forecasted.
The Winter Storm Warning criteria is the same for Southern New Hampshire
as the rest of Southern New England.

Examples: (Snow Accumilation)

1-3 Inches (No advisory)
2-3 Inches (No advisory)
2-4 Inches (No Advisory)
2-5 Inches (Winter Weather Advisory issued)
3-5 Inches (Winter Weather Advisory issued)
3-6 Inches (Winter Weather Advisory issued)
4-6 Inches (Winter Weather Advisory issued)
4-7 Inches (Winter Storm Warning issued)

Wind Situations:

As many people probably saw this weekend, a new type of item for wind
is issued called a Wind Advisory. This now gives us three types of
items that can be issued for wind situations.

High Wind Watch
Wind Advisory
High Wind Warning

High Wind Watch is issued for potential damaging winds but that potential
is not yet certain.

High Wind Warning is issued for imminent or occuring winds in excess of
60 MPH for at least an hour or longer.

The new Wind Advisory is for sustained winds in the 40-50 MPH range with
higher gusts that are just below High Wind Warning criteria. This advisory
will be issued when winds meet this criteria from now on.

Wind Chill Situations:

There is now a new Wind Chill Advisory to Wind Chill Warning format that
will be used for the region. The gentlemen at NWS can correct me if my
memory fails me here but I believe this is the criteria:

Wind Chill Advisory: Wind Chill indicies of -25 Below Zero or lower.

Wind Chill Warning: Wind Chill indicies of -40 Below Zero or lower.

Winter Storm/High Wind Watches are usually issued 12-24 hours before an
event that has potential for more than 6 inches of snow or 1/2" of ice or
greater, or in the case of a High Wind Watch damaging wind gusts in excess
of 60 MPH, and are usually upgraded to a Warning or changed to advisory
based on the criteria above. If it is known ahead of time that the event
will only produced advisory criteria weather, then an advisory will be
issued with out a watch issuance.

This may be corrected or refined in the next newsletter if necessary.

Possible Pager Oppurtunity with Page New England...

While we do have the existing deal with MobileComm we have a potentially
better deal possible with Page New England. I was connected to Russ
Howard from Page New England through Peter Lamb, Tiverton EMA director,
with a potentially better deal then MobileComm. I need people's feedback
here, particualarly from those with existing pagers from MobileComm and
from SEC, Ray Wall, on the possibility of utilizing this deal.

Here are the details:

Pricing Details:

Unlimited pages via computer.
Manual pages are covered up to 100 pages using PIN Number.

You get both individual and group calling ID's then can both be accessed
via computer or manual page.

Rates of Service:

With Lost/Protection fee of $1.00 per month included:

Alphanumeric pager: $10.00 per month.
Numeric pager: $6.50 per month.

Also and most important to many groups:

Page New England provides software to access all pagers for $29.95. With
the group ID, one call out to the group ID, accesses all pagers. (Be
advised I can appropriate the software for these pagers with little
difficulty.)

Anyone's thoughts, ideas, or comments on this plan are welcome.

SKYWARN Document Changes Forthcoming...

Glenn Field has asked me to make some changes to the SKYWARN document
for this upcoming edition. Those changes will hopefully be made this
week and given to Glenn Field by the end of this week.

That's all for this edition of the SKYWARN Newsletter. Questions, Comments,
Suggestions or topics for this newsletter, please let me know.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Greater New Bedford ARES Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875
Work Phone #: (508) 435-1000 Ext.: 3411
Email Address: rmacedo@ma.ultranet.com
Packet Address: KD1CY @ AA1FS

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