Tag Archives: severe weather

SKYWARN

Social media for SKYWARN spotters

Facebook and Twitter logos

In previous articles, I’ve mentioned the National Weather Service’s interest in receiving storm reports via Internet social media channels, such as Twitter and Facebook. From the viewpoint of NWS meteorologists, these channels have significant advantages over ham radio. Chief among these: They don’t require the presence of a licensed ham radio operator at the weather forecast office (WFO). That’s important, because it’s becoming more and more difficult to find volunteer hams to staff the WFO’s station (WX9IWX) during severe weather. Another advantage in meteorologists’ eyes is sheer numbers. Many more people already report weather phenomena to their friends and followers via Twitter and Facebook than there are ham radio-equipped spotters.

An NWS service assessment of the historic June 29, 2012 derecho published in January discussed use of social media. Meteorologists at the Cleveland WFO told the assessment team that it received several reports via Twitter from people in and around its warning area during the event, often before receiving reports from its regular spotters. One of the official recommendations in the service assessment reads:

“NWS should expand the use of social media for reaching the public and receiving observations and damage reports during high-impact events. NWS should consider a virtual volunteer program to support social media operations similar to the SKYWARN program.”

The Northern Indiana WFO has already started monitoring Facebook and Twitter for such reports. What does this mean to spotters who are licensed ham radio operators? If a SKYWARN net is on the air, I recommend sharing your information on the net, even if you also submit it via social media and even if WX9IWX is not on the air. That way, other spotters listening to the net will immediately know what you saw. And even when WX9IWX is on the air, if you’ve taken a photo to go with your report, use Twitter or Facebook to send the report and photo to the WFO and then send your report on the net. Any time you give the net a report you’ve already sent via another means, say so on the air.

How to set up and use Twitter and Facebook accounts is beyond the scope of this article but such information is readily available on the Web. It’s worth noting, however, that in addition to sending tweets via Twitter’s website and via a myriad of smartphone apps, you can also configure Twitter to allow you to send a tweet from any cellular telephone that has text messaging (SMS) capability. In other words, sending a spotter report via Twitter while you’re away from home does not require a smartphone or any other kind of mobile Internet access.

Reporting via Twitter

To send a spotter report via Twitter, generate a tweet that includes your report and the “hash tag” #NWSIWX. The WFO and others constantly monitor Twitter for tweets that contain that hash tag. If there’s room in the 140-character tweet, indicate that you’re a trained spotter. Whenever possible, take a photo and include a link in your tweet (see the Web for instructions on how to do this). Note: If you monitor Twitter, you will see some people sending reports with @NWSIWX instead of #NWSIWX. You’ll also see the WFO reply to such tweets. Nonetheless, Warning Coordination Meteorologist Michael Lewis said the WFO prefers that spotters use the #NWSIWX hash tag in their reports. Also, if you need to send reports from a county that’s not in the coverage area of the Northern Indiana WFO, contact the appropriate WFO to learn what hash tag it uses and/or use that WFO’s Facebook page.

Reporting via Facebook

To send a report via Facebook, log into your Facebook account and go to the National Weather Service Northern Indiana Facebook page. Click on “Write Post” and enter your report. Indicate they you’re a trained spotter and as with tweets, include a photo if possible.

Whether you use Twitter or Facebook, meteorologists at the WFO will notice your report almost immediately. So will broadcasters, emergency managers, other spotters and members of the general public.

In fact, hams who are SKYWARN spotters can monitor these channels to improve their own situational awareness. More on that in a future article.

SKYWARN

Flood watch becomes warning

The northern Indiana office of the NWS just pulled the trigger on a flood warning. The text includes:

NUMEROUS SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS…INCLUDING SPY RUN IN THE FORT WAYNE METRO AREA…WILL LIKELY OVERFLOW THEIR BANKS. NUMEROUS ROADWAYS WILL BECOME IMPASSABLE DUE TO WATER FLOWING ACROSS THE ROAD…AND DEEP PONDED WATER IN POORLY DRAINED SECTIONS.

Uncategorized

NWS concerned about flooding

The northern Indiana NWS office sent a tweet this evening asking people to report how much rain they’ve had. They’re asking people to be sure to include the amount, location, and the approximate time period. They’ll be looking for these reports on Twitter with the hash tag #nwsiwx.You can also post reports on the office’s Facebook page.

Earlier this evening, the NWS issued an urban and small stream flood advisory for several northeastern Indiana counties, including Allen County.

There’s also a flood watch in effect because “periods of heavy rainfall can be expected tonight. This heavy rainfall combined with already saturated soils and elevated river levels will likely lead to significant river flooding through the upcoming weekend.”

SKYWARN

Severe weather risk reduced to “slight”

The NWS Storm Prediction Center issued a new convective outlook at 3:36 p.m. It removes the moderate risk of severe weather that was present in earlier convective outlooks. About three fourths of Indiana, however, continues to have a slight risk of severe weather, including Allen County, Indiana.

Convective outlook map
Probability of damaging thunderstorm winds or wind gusts of 50 knots or higher within 25 miles of a point.
Hatched Area: 10% or greater probability of wind gusts 65 knots or greater within 25 miles of a point. (More Info)

As you can see in the map above, the probability of damaging thunderstorm winds is now no greater than 30 percent and that’s for areas well south and southwest of the Fort Wayne area. There remains a slight (5%) risk of a tornado in parts of Indiana from Fort Wayne to the south and southwest.

So what happened? The meteorologist’s discussion indicates that the line of thunderstorms moved east faster than expected, causing the storms to arrive in our area before the sun had heated the atmosphere enough to create the instability required for severe weather. With all the rain and cloud cover we have now, temperatures for the rest of the day will be too low for severe weather to develop.

SKYWARN

Was that it? Not necessarily

At about 2 p.m., some thunderstorms came through Fort Wayne. They were not severe. At 2:50, the National Weather Service canceled the tornado watch for Allen County and other northeastern Indiana counties.

So, was that it? Are we out of the figurative woods for severe weather today? Not necessarily.

We’ll know more at 4 p.m. EDT when the SPC issues a new convective outlook. But the 2 p.m. storms arrived ahead of the main cold front and as of now, there’s still a chance of severe weather developing later this afternoon.

So for now, I’m remaining vigilant. If I have time, I’ll post again after the 4 p.m. convective outlook comes out.

SKYWARN

Want to hear storm spotters?

SKYWARN storm spotters who are licensed ham radio operators use their radios to report severe weather. If you have a typical police scanner radio (even the old style that no longer picks up Fort Wayne police), you can hear those storm spotters.

In the Fort Wayne area, you can hear the hams by programming  the following radio frequency into your scanner: 146.880 MHz.

A word of caution, however: Hams use this channel for normal chit-chat when severe weather is not present. So you might want to “lock out” that channel during those times and enable it as severe weather approaches.