SKYWARN Newsletter #13
Hello to all...
In this edition of the SKYWARN Newsletter...
145.49 Repeater Weather Net Meeting a GREAT Success...
Specific METAR Format of Data Part 1...
The 1996 Winter Storm Media Workshop...
More Operators Requested for Operating the NWS Taunton Station...
Snowfall Reports from the Nov. 14/Nov. 15th Ocean Effect Snow Requested...
145.49 Repeater Weather Net Meeting a GREAT Success...
The meeting was a great success and here is the meeting summary from
Hank-N1LTV.
Here's just a brief wrap up on the Fall Meeting of the FRWN (not
intended to be a detailed description as in secretary's minutes).
The meeting seemed to unfold pretty smoothly with the agenda set
by the planning commitee and finalized by Louie Whitlow, WA1GDE.
Congratulations and thanks to Louie and Tom, WA1KDD, for conducting
the meeting in such a competent but relaxed manner. Thanks also to
M. L. Baron, KA1WBH for providing us space, and making us seem right at
home at the CVI studios; also for taping (3 camera yet) the meeting.
M. L., those camera guys you had looked like you got them off the
street. Come to think of it, I guess *they were* off the street. :)
Thanks to Marc, KA1WBF, the owner of the Fairhaven Repeater, for
attending the meeting, supporting the wx net as he's always done (he
was one of THE original founders), and keeping the repeater
running in tip-top shape.
The meeting was covered by the (New Bedford) Sunday Standard-Times,
page C5, in an excellent article by Carol Lee Costa-Crowell. Thanks
to her for doing a great job with a busy reporting schedule for
Saturday. This article has just become available as this is written
on the world wide web at the S-T site of
http://www.s-t.com
Just follow these links to the story:
1. Headline Index
2. Local Fare
3. Weather buffs keep a sky watch
We had some new faces--two that I'm aware of. One a gentlemen from
Brighton who saw the announcement on Usenet and decided to
come down. He has a special interest in Southeastern Massachusetts
because he windsurfs in the area, and was interested in obtaining info
about local wx conditions, especially by packet. He wished he could
get the FRWN on 2 meters, but that is out of range under normal
conditions. He was interested enough in the meeting to fax the
announcement to several friends of his. Another new visitor was a
high school student who noticed one of the flyers at the UMASSD
library. It was really gratifying to see someone his age and a
non-ham at that, appear.
So the meager last-minute effort to get the word out through a few
of new channels paid off. It also didn't cause a monster crowd of
people to materialize, as some folks were very concerned might happen.
I think this goes to show that although you never know what's going to
happen, having too many people show up is probably not going to be a
problem for us in the forseable future, with appropriate planning.
My thanks to Rob, KD1CY, for offering to email his whole address book,
and to transmit a bulletin to packet, about the meeting.
The demo Roger, N1MJN, put on was great (what a slick system that DTN
is--how about a 80% off deal fom DTN for licensed hams, and 90% off
for Skywarn trained hams?) A Big thanks to Roger for lugging his
equipment to the meeting and sharing it with us. Roger also had his
usual Santa's bag of other assorted goodies for the hand-out table.
This meeting's handout table was outstanding and overflowed with
material supplied by several members, and featured some very nice
METAR material, order forms for the Colorado State snow measuring
booklet, compiled printed copies of all the Skywarn newletters to date,
and fresh copies of Windswept, the bulletin of the Mount Washington
Observatory. Numerous other handouts as well.
Last, I'd like to thank Ron, N1OHG, for presenting some beautiful
tropical storm/hurricane wx images he made with a color printer
with source image files available from the Internet. Thanks also
to Ron for offering handout copying assistance. I hope we continue
to have people give their short talks and demos, even when
there is a featured speaker. Together with my homemade expanded rain
gauge/electronic weather instrument RFI management presentation, that
made two short talks, and I think one more could have been fitted
in easily.
See you in 1997 at the Spring FRWN meeting!
Hank Riley, N1LTV
h1riley@umassd.edu
founder and maintainer, FRWN Email List
Specific METAR Format of Data Part 1...
As discussed at the WX Net Meeting, there was some explanation of the
METAR data and Henry, N1SNH mentioned it might be something good to
discuss in email so here is Part 1 of information on the METAR format
of data used by all automatic and manual obeserving stations. Anyone
involved in SKYWARN or weather nets should consider changing to this
format of data as time goes on.
In this part, Cloud Cover Observations:
SKC Sky Clear
FEW >0-2 Octas
SCT 3-4 Octas
BKN 5-7 Octas
OVC 8 Octas
The next part of the METAR Format of Data will go into the Abbreviations
of the METAR Format of data.
The 1996 Winter Storm Media Workshop...
The following is a press release regarding the 1996 Winter Storm
Media Workshop. This was given to me by Glenn Field, Warning
Coordination Meteorologist.
The 1996 Winter Storm Media Workshop sponsored by the National
Weather Service in Taunton, MA and WGGB-TV Springfield, MA is from
10 AM-1:15 PM Saturday December 7th, 1996 at the studios of WGGB-TV,
1300 Liberty Street, Springfield, MA.
Directions:
From the Massachusetts Turnpike (east or west):
Take Exit 6 (Springfield). After passing through tollplaza, turn left on
to Route 291 West, to Exit 3 (Armory Street).
At the top of the ramp, turn right on to Liberty Street (North). Proceed
through three sets of lights. WGGB-TV is on your left, just before the
fourth set of lights, opposite the Springfield Plaza.
From Route 91 (north or south):
As you reach Springfield, take Exit 8 (Route 291 East, signposted Ludlow
and Boston). Almost immediately, take Exit 3 (Armory Street).
At top of ramp (lights) proceed straight ahead, then bear left on to
Liberty Street (North). Proceed through three sets of lights. WGGB-TV is
on your left, just before the fourth set of lights, opposite the Springfield
Plaza.
Agenda:
10:00 AM WELCOME REMARKS
Tom Bevacqua, Chief Meteorologist WGGB-TV, Springfield, MA and
Glenn Field, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, National
Weather Service Taunton MA.
10:07 AM MASSACHUSETTS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY'S ROLE DURING WINTER
EMERGENCIES
Peter LaPorte, Director of MEMA.
10:25 AM DEMONSTRATION OF GRIDDED NUMERICAL MODEL DISPLAY USED AT THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON, MASSACHUSETTS
James Lee, Science and Operations Officer, NWS Taunton MA.
10:45 AM HUMAN PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO COLD EXPOSURE
Captain John Castellani, Research Physiologist/US Army Research
Institute of Environmental Medicine, Thermal and Mountain
Medicine Division, Natick, MA.
11:30 AM WEATHER FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE ACTIVATION OF A TASK FORCE FOR THE
HOMELESS IN SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
Helen Caulton, Director of the City of Springfield's Department of
Health and Human Services
11:40 AM VIDEO FROM ABC NEWS "TURNING POINT" ON THE IMPACT OF WIND CHILL
ON MOUNT EVEREST CLIMBERS
11:50 AM BREAK
12:10 PM HOW WILL THE LACK OF SNOWFALL OBSERVATIONS AT AIRPORTS BE HANDLED
THIS WINTER?
Alan Dunham, Data Acquisition Program Manager at NWS Taunton, MA.
12:25 PM REAL-TIME COLLECTION AND DISSEMINATION OF COOPERATIVE OBSERVER
SNOWFALL AND SNOW DEPTH OBSERVATIONS
Andy Horvitz and Bob Leffler, Meteorologists at NWS Headquarters,
Silver Spring, Maryland.
12:45 PM THE SPRINGFIELD UNION-NEWS COOPERATIVE OBSERVATION STATION
Ray Kelly, Reporter, Springfield Union-News, Springfield, MA.
12:55 PM NEW THRESHOLD VALUES FOR NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ADVISORIES/
WARNINGS FOR THIS WINTER; RIVER PRODUCTS THAT THE NWS ISSUES
Glenn Field, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, NWS Taunton MA.
1:15 PM ADJOURN
Any Questions? Please contact Tom Bevacqua at WGGB-TV (413-846-0130) or
Glenn Field at National Weather Service (508-823-1983)
More Operators Requested for Operating the NWS Taunton Station...
As part of my initiative to insure quality service to the served
agency, and in this case, the National Weather Service, I would like
to get more operators to put on a rotating list of the current
operators at NWS Taunton. Anyone interested can contact me. I will
be putting together some sort of training program for the new operators
and for any of the existing ones who would like to participate.
Snowfall Reports from the Nov. 14/Nov. 15th Ocean Effect Snow Requested...
Walt Drag, at the National Weather Service, is interested in anyone
who received snowfall during the November 14th and 15th Ocean Effect Snow]
event. Even if it was a trace of snow during that event, please forward
to me as well as Walt Drag. Walt Drag's email address is
(walt.drag@noaa.gov). Any reports are greatly appreciated.
That's all for this edition of the SKYWARN Newsletter. Comments,
Questions, or topics for the newsletter are always welcome.
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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