Tag Archives: WANE

Ham radio, SKYWARN, Weather

Ham radio operators configure weather radios for citizens

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Ham radio operator and SKYWARN storm spotter Steve Haxby, N9MEL configures a weather alert radio for a citizen. WB9SSE photo.
Ham radio operator and SKYWARN storm spotter Steve Haxby, N9MEL configures a weather alert radio for a citizen. WB9SSE photo.

Five radio amateurs assisted members of the general public with configuring weather alert radios during a special event last month. The Kroger store at Georgetown Square on Fort Wayne’s northeast side hosted the April 16 event, which was organized by WANE TV-15 and the Allen County Office of Homeland Security (ACOHS).

Ham radio participants included Tom Baker, N9TB; Al Burke, WB9SSE; Jay Farlow, W9LW; Steve Haxby, N9MEL; and Howard Pletcher, N9ADS. Mark Frazier, meteorologist in charge of the Northern Indiana National Weather Service Office also participated, as did Lori Mayers, assistant director of ACOHS and WANE broadcast meteorologist Greg Shoup and Adam Solarczyk.

After the three-hour event, WANE chief meteorologist Nicholas Ferreri wrote, “Thanks for gathering such a great group of Fort Wayne area volunteers for Monday’s kickoff to WANE Weather Radio Week. I’ve heard many good reviews about Monday’s event.”

Bruce Jones, meteorologist/spokesperson for manufacturer Midland Radio Corporation added, “We appreciate everything SKYWARN/ARRL does to support weather safety both before and during severe weather events.  WANE-TV is helping get the word out there and with partners like you, Lori, and Mark we are building the NOAA Weather Radio audience bigger and bigger every year.  We estimate there are 15-20 million weather radio receivers in the US and Canada and it is important that we keep them all operational and properly tuned. So in addition to setting up new radios, thank you for troubleshooting the older models.”

Ham radio, SKYWARN

Fort Wayne hams volunteer to program weather radios

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Amatuer (ham) radio operator Steve Haxby, N9MEL, helps a citizen program a weather alert radio
Amateur (ham) radio operator Steve Haxby, N9MEL, helps a citizen program a weather alert radio

Six Fort Wayne amateur radio operators spent several hours May 23 assisting residents with their NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) receivers.

Tom Baker, N9TB; Jay Farlow, W9LW; Steve Haxby, N9MEL; Joseph Lawrence, K9RFZ; Steve Nardin, W9SAN; and Howard Pletcher, N9ADS worked alongside representatives of WANE TV, the Allen County Office of Homeland Security and the National Weather Service at the Walgreens store on Lower Huntington Road to configure NWR receivers.

Volunteers assured that the receivers’ specific area message encoding (SAME) and receive frequency settings were correct, so users would receive warnings that the NWS issues for their home counties.

WANE TV had promoted the three-hour event, which was duplicated at other locations in the TV station’s market area. The Office of Homeland Security estimates that 100 citizens were assisted.

As Joseph put it, the event “was an excellent example of cooperation between local weather personalities, NWS staff, DHS, and amateur radio operators to support our community. Good PR for amateur radio can go a long way in protecting ham radio bands from public utility spectrum grabs.”

SKYWARN

Bogus winter storm “forecasts” spreading on social networks

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Do not be alarmed. Despite what you might have read on Facebook or Twitter, no big winter storm is forecast to strike the Midwest or Northeast this weekend.

As WANE-TV meteorologist Greg Shoup writes in a his blog, “There are no significant weather patterns this weekend across the entire eastern United States.”

Apparently some attention-starved social network users are forwarding information about a winter storm that happened March 12 of 2014, but without the critical information that it was last year!

Greg correctly points out in his blog that we should not believe everything we read on social media sites. Even when weather information on Facebook and Twitter is current (versus a year old), much of it comes from amateur meteorologists who share worst-case scenarios based on the outputs of single numerical models of the atmosphere, hoping they can claim to be the first to advise the world of some major weather event.

I prefer to get my weather information directly from the National Weather Service (NWS). The NWS is completely taxpayer-funded. Unlike other sources of weather forecasts, the NWS does not crave attention, nor rely on advertising (which relies on viewership) to stay in business. In my experience, if the official NWS forecast does not mention a big weather event, it’s because there’s a good reason that NWS meteorologists lack confidence that the event will occur.

You’ll never see me write my own forecasts here on this blog, on Facebook or on Twitter, because I’m not a meteorologist. I share information from true professional meteorologists who I trust, mostly NWS employees and occasionally very credible broadcast meteorologists, like Shoup and his colleagues at WANE.

So, don’t believe everything you see on social networks and please, don’t share weather information with others unless you know and trust the source.

 

SKYWARN

WANE-TV’s Shoup: Despite what you hear elsewhere, it’s not the Polar Vortex

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Shoup

Yep, its certainly unseasonably cool today. And you’ll probably here some folks attribute the cool weather to the Polar Vortex. As WANE TV’s Greg Shoup explains in his blog, we should take any such comments, even from “meteorologists,” with a grain of salt:

This typical July-like pattern will over the course of a few days be replaced by a ‘lobe’ from that ‘vortex’ or circulation that is referred to as the Polar Vortex. This concept is often misunderstood, especially in the national media as it is referred to simply as The Polar Vortex. This is scientifically inaccurate as the vortex or circulation itself moves very little. It has a semi permanent position near the Arctic Circle. That location does not vary and the vortex is never moving into a different location. However, sometimes we see a piece, chunk or scientifically called a ‘lobe’ break off this vortex and make its way to our region. This is not a common feature during the summer months so it is certainly very unusual.

via Return flow back in the forecast | WANE.com Blogs.