SKYWARN storm spotters and future spotters prepare for training Feb. 16, 2016 at the Public Safety Academy of Northeast Indiana, Fort Wayne
Storm spotters can refresh and increase their knowledge at
events in this month and next. One is the official spotter training that the
National Weather Service plans to conduct in Fort Wayne October 22. The other
is the annual Indiana Storm Chaser’s Convention Nov. 16.
NWS spotter class
As Allen County HamNews reported last month, the Northern
Indiana office (IWX) of the National Weather Service (NWS) will conduct a storm
spotter class, beginning at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Public Safety
Academy, 7602 Patriot Crossing. That’s behind the Walmart and Menards stores,
off Lafayette Street, south of Tillman Road.
IWX needs spotter reports year-round. Autumn classes like
the one in Fort Wayne October 22 will cover late-season severe weather as well
as winter weather types and reporting methods.
Even if you attended a spotter class last spring, I
recommend attending this October class. It will give you a chance to see what
changes IWX has made to its curriculum, refresh your knowledge for the autumn
severe weather season, and prepare you to be more helpful during the winter
weather season. I plan to attend and hope to see you there. Register online at www.weather.gov/iwx/Spotter_Event_List.
Indiana Storm Chaser’s Convention
Every year, serious storm chasers from around the Midwest
gather in the Indianapolis area for a day of learning about severe meteorology
and other topics related to their hobby. Unlike chasers, storm spotters might
not be interested in driving all over the Plains in the hope of seeing a
tornado. The information imparted at the Indiana Storm Chaser’s Convention,
however, can help any storm spotters be more effective at protecting their
communities.
The Convention unfortunately conflicts with the first day of
the Fort Wayne Hamfest. But for storm spotters who are eager to increase their
knowledge of severe meteorology, it can be worth attending, even if it means
missing the first day of the Hamfest. Learn more about the Indiana Storm
Chaser’s Convention at www.indchasercon.com.
Speakers to include meteorologists from four TV stations
Collaborating for public safety: Meteorologists from four competing Fort Wayne TV stations meet with ARES leaders to help plan storm spotter education. Counterclockwise from lower left: Jim Moehring, ARES emergency coordinator; Caleb Saylor, Fox 55 Weekend Meteorologist; Nicholas Ferreri, WANE 15 Chief Meteorologist; Jon Wilson, Fort Wayne’s NBC Weekend Meteorologist; Caleb Chevalier, ABC21 Weekend Morning Meteorologist. Photo by Jay Farlow, ARES Assistant Emergency Coordinator
Jan. 25, 2019 – Fort Wayne – A local organization invites anyone who is interested in weather to attend a free class on how to recognize and report severe weather phenomena to benefit public safety. The Allen County branch of the national Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ACARES) will host the class at the Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Thursday, Feb. 21 at 6:30 p.m. Scheduled speakers include meteorologists from ABC21, Fort Wayne’s NBC, Fox 55 and WANE 15. Allen County Office of Homeland Security director Bernie Beier and Consolidated Communications Partnership deputy director John Chavez also plan to speak.
“This two-hour class will provide attendees the knowledge they need to help protect their communities from severe weather like tornadoes,” said Jim Moehring, emergency coordinator (team leader), ACARES. “Although we are a ham radio organization, people need not be hams to be storm spotters, so we welcome anyone who is interested in weather.”
Moehring said the “ground truth” that volunteer spotters provide is essential to the process through which the National Weather Service (NWS) issues storm warnings. He pointed out that this remains true despite advances in weather radar, because the beam from the NWS radar site near North Webster is 2,500 feet or more above the ground by the time it reaches Allen County.
Traditionally, meteorologists from the NWS Northern Indiana office near North Webster have presented spotter training every spring in Fort Wayne. Changes in the office’s responsibilities, however, led it to change its training schedule. As a result, NWS meteorologists won’t be in Fort Wayne until autumn of 2019 and then not again until spring of 2021.
“We wanted to assure that our members, and members of the general public have a chance to receive storm spotter education before this spring’s severe weather season,” Moehring said. “We therefore decided to devote our February meeting to a spotter class and to invite everyone to attend. Because NWS meteorologists aren’t available, we’re thrilled that four TV stations in Fort Wayne are sending meteorologists to help teach the weather-related material.”
A complete list of speakers and their topics follows:
Jim Moehring, Allen County ARES emergency coordinator (team leader): Introduction to the NWS SKYWARN program and the importance of volunteer storm spotters.
Jay Farlow, ACARES assistant emergency coordinator for SKYWARN: How storm warnings are issued and distributed. Also, storm spotter reporting methods and best practices.
Charles Ward, experienced storm spotter: Best practices to remain safe while storm spotting.
Bernie Beier, Allen County Office of Homeland Security director: The role of the Allen County Office of Homeland Security with regard to severe weather.
John Chavez, Consolidated Communications Partnership deputy director: The role of the Consolidated Communication Partnership (911/dispatch) in severe weather events.
Caleb Saylor, Fox 55 weekend meteorologist: Thunderstorm basics, including how storms form and become severe.
Caleb Chevalier, ABC21 weekend morning meteorologist: Types of thunderstorms, including those most likely to create tornadoes. Also, radar apps and interpretation
Jon Wilson, Fort Wayne’s NBC weekend meteorologist: Thunderstorm hazards, including straight-line winds, large hail, flash flooding and tornadoes.
Nicholas Ferreri, WANE 15 chief meteorologist: Cloud identification, including distinguishing scary-looking but benign weather from true threats that spotters should report.
About the Amateur Radio Emergency Service
The Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) is a program of ARRL, the national association for amateur radio®. ARES establishes teams of volunteer, licensed amateur (ham) radio operators in counties throughout the country, each of which is led by an emergency coordinator. These volunteer teams train and practice to provide communication services to their communities in the event of a disaster. Through a memorandum of understanding signed by ARRL and the National Weather Service (NWS), ARES volunteers also commit to communicating weather information that assists the NWS in the creation of weather warnings. In addition, ARES volunteers practice their communication skills by providing two-way radio communications at public events, such as marathons, walk-a-thons, etc. More information about ARES is available on the ARRL website at http://www.arrl.org/ares.
Media Contact
Jay Farlow, volunteer public information officer, ARRL arsw9lw@gmail.com
This blog’s author, Jay Farlow, W9LW, joining the WeatherBrains podcast Jan. 7, 2019, via Google Hangouts from his office/radio shack at home in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
A popular, weather-related podcast recently recorded an episode devoted to the role of amateur (ham) radio in the weather enterprise, especially storm spotting. WeatherBrains is a long-running, well-respected podcast hosted by Alabama broadcast meteorologist James Spann. It recorded the ham radio podcast January 7.
Ham radio has been deeply involved in the National Weather Service’s (NWS) SKYWARN® program since its inception, according to research done by Brian E. Smith, the warning coordination meteorologist at the NWS Omaha/Valley weather forecast office (WFO) in Nebraska. During the infamous Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965, a tornado did F4 damage in northern Toledo, Ohio. Afterward, a ham who was also a meteorologist in the Toledo office of what was then called the U.S. Weather Bureau — Merle Kachenmeister, WA8EWW — organized ham radio operators in his area to report severe weather to the Toledo office via radio. This is considered the birth of the SKYWARN program, according to Smith.
WeatherBrains episode number 677 is available for viewing or listening on the the podcast’s website. Listeners can also access the audio-only version on their mobile devices via their favorite podcast apps.
The author of this blog was one of the guests who WeatherBrains invited to discuss ham radio. Other guests included Jeff Stapel, W8SWX of the Muskegon, Michigan SKYWARN organization and Rob Macedo, KD1CY, who is both the Section Emergency Coordinator of the ARRL Eastern Massachusetts section and director of operations for the VOIP Hurricane Net.
During the show, I mentioned several resources that might be valuable to audience members. For your convenience, I’ve listed them below:
The tornado outbreak of Aug. 24, 2016: This page on the website of the NWS northern Indiana WFO includes the radar rotation tracks I showed during the podcast, as well as other information about how the outbreak affected my home area.
ARRL Ham Radio License Manual: This book contains all the information you need to pass the exam and get your ham radio license, so you can join other storm spotters on the air.
Storm Spotting and Amateur Radio: This book is a valuable resource for anyone who is interested in either storm spotting or how to use ham radio while spotting. It includes information on resources, training, equipment, safety, storm spotter activation procedures and more.
Allen County (Ind.) SKYWARN Net Operations Manual: This PDF document discusses in great detail how the hams of the Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana area organize their SKYWARN net — i.e. on-air conference call — during severe weather events.
A couple resources I didn’t have time to get into regard equipment (although Rob mentioned some price ranges). Below are links to some equipment options you might consider, if you’re thinking about getting into ham radio:
Baofeng UV-5R handheld radio: Available on Amazon for only $25, this will get you on the air. Like any handheld radio, its geographical range is limited, but as long as you’re close enough to what hams call a “repeater” station, you can talk to people dozens of miles away.
AnyTone AT-778UV Mobile radio: Available on Amazon for $130, this radio mounts in your vehicle and connects to your vehicle’s 12-volt poser source. It transmits with 25 watts, versus the 5 watts of most handheld radios, enabling you to communicate while farther from the repeater station. It requires an external antenna, sold separately. Antenna options include those with temporary magnetic mounts and those that can mount more permanently on a trunk lid without drilling holes.
The “big three” brands of ham radio equipment are Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu. Their radios, while well respected, tend to be priced higher on the new market than the Chinese brands above. Note, however, that there’s a large market for pre-owned radios. These can be obtained through some dealers (who take trade-ins), at ham radio flea markets and through online auction sites.
Anyone can help protect their community from weather threats like tornadoes. In just a couple of hours, you can learn how severe weather forms, how to distinguish truly threatening weather from scary-looking but harmless clouds, and how to report severe weather so the rest of your community can be adequately warned.
The Allen County chapter of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) invites all interested persons to attend its Feb. 21 meeting, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the main, downtown branch of the Allen County Public Library, The meeting will be devoted to severe weather and storm spotting. You don’t have to be a ham radio operator and you don’t need any prior knowledge of meteorology or communications.
Scheduled speakers include ABC21 Weekend Morning Meteorologist Caleb Chevalier, WANE 15 Chief Meteorologist Nicholas Ferreri, FOX 55 weekend Meteorologist Caleb Saylor, Fort Wayne’s NBC Weekend Meteorologist Jon Wilson, Allen County Office of Homeland Security director Bernie Beier, Consolidated Communications Partnership (911/public safety dispatch) director David Bubb, Allen County ARES team leader Jim Moehring and Allen County SKYWARN ham radio net manager Jay Farlow.
Although representatives of the National Weather Service (NWS) are not available for this meeting, we will follow the NWS SKYWARN curriculum with enhancements specific to Allen County. NWS does not plan to teach a spotter class in Allen County until autumn of 2019.
This meeting will be valuable to anyone who is interested in severe weather, including those who have previously received storm spotter training. More information is available on the host’s Facebook page.
Allen County ham radio group to invite general public to its own spotter class
National Weather Service meteorologist Sam Lashley trains SKYWARN storm spotters in Fort Wayne, Feb. 2017
National Weather Service (NWS)-led SKYWARN® storm spotter training will no longer occur every spring in Allen County, Indiana. A new training rotation developed by the northern Indiana NWS office (IWX) means that the next two sessions in Allen County will occur in the fall of 2019 and the spring of 2021. The Allen County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), however, plans to devote its February 21, 2019 meeting to spotter education, and to invite all interested persons.
Beginning in 2019, IWX will offer 21 spotter training sessions per year, versus the 22 to 26 sessions it previously conducted annually in February, March and April. The new schedule divides the sessions into two seasons; 12 in the spring season and nine in the late summer or early autumn. Autumn sessions will allow IWX to focus on late-season severe weather and winter weather observations.
“While this is a change, it is not a degradation of service,” IWX warning coordination meteorologist Michael Lewis wrote via email.
Lewis encouraged county emergency managers to promote spotter training sessions held in neighboring counties, because the NWS program contains no information that’s specific to any county. For example, Allen County residents who wish to attend an IWX session in the spring of 2019 may travel to Adams, Huntington or Noble County.
Increase in other services led to change
IWX created the new training schedule to provide more balance to the office’s operational workload, according to Lewis. He explained that an increase in the amount of Impact-Based Decision Support Services (IDSS) that the office provides to core partners made necessary the workload rebalance. For example, over the past four years, IWX staff members have attended:
District and sector emergency management meetings (including five Indiana Department of Homeland Security districts, one Ohio sector and one Michigan district)
Local emergency planning committee (LEPC) meetings (every active county LEPC meeting within the IWX coverage area at least once)
More than 40 exercises (including full scale, functional, tabletop and discussion based)
State and International EMA meetings
Countless other public outreach events throughout the 37 counties within the IWX service area.
County-specific training encouraged
In addition to promoting spotter training in neighboring counties, Lewis encouraged county emergency managers to conduct county-specific storm spotter training during “off years.” During such events, emergency managers could provide basic information about county-specific warning operations, such as outdoor warning siren policies, notification services, activation procedures, sheltering instructions, reporting methods, etc. To support such county-specific training, IWX will make available recorded spotter training segments (four- to six-minute videos) from the most current version of its spotter program.
In a November email to Allen County ARES, a representative of the Allen County Office of Homeland Security (ACOHS, Allen County’s emergency management agency) indicated that the office had no plans to conduct the suggested county-specific storm spotter training.
ARES to host training
Allen County ARES wants to give its members, other hams and members of the general public an opportunity to receive spotter education before the next spring severe weather season. For that reason, ARES plans to devote its Feb. 21 meeting to spotter education and to welcome all interested persons, including hams who are not ARES members and non-hams.
The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the main branch of the Allen County Public Library. The agenda is still being developed, but ARES leaders plan to present some of the information themselves based on NWS materials. ARES has also invited others from the community to provide presentations, including ACOHS, the City/County Consolidated Communication Partnership (our local 911 public safety dispatching center), and broadcast meteorologists from all four Fort Wayne TV newsrooms.
At the time of this writing, two TV stations have agreed to send meteorologists and the 911 dispatch center has agreed send a representative to discuss how severe weather affects its operations.
Mark Feb. 21 on your calendar and watch this blog for more information.
Tonight, I was the guest speaker at a meeting of the Allen County Amateur Radio Technical Society on the topic in the title above. I promised the members present that they would not have to write down all the web URL’s I mentioned, because i’d post them here. Each item in the bulleted list below links directly to the respective online resource.
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.”
My safe place during tornado warnings is the only room in our single-story house that has neither windows nor exterior walls. The portable ham radio provides situational awareness while sheltered and a means of communication if the cellular phone system fails.
April 4, 2018 is national safe-place selfie day. It’s a campaign to help educate people about safe places to take shelter, especially during dangerous weather. The National Weather Service explains the campaign on its website.
You can help with the public education effort by simply going to your shelter (whatever it is at your location), taking a photo of yourself and then posting that photo on your social media channels, along with the hash tag #SafePlaceSelfie.
For example, I posted the photo above on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and SnapChat.
Show the world how you shelter! Post a #SafePlaceSelfie.
Alabama broadcast meteorologist and WeatherBrains podcast host James Spann speaks at the 2017 DuPage County Advanced Severe Weather Seminar near Chicago. Spann is scheduled to speak in March, 2018 at the Central Indiana Severe Weather Seminar in Indianapolis.
Note: This article appears in the February, 2018 issue of Allen County HamNews, a newsletter for the amateur radio operators of Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana. Some of the information might still be of value, however, to weather enthusiasts within driving distance of Indianapolis, Chicago or Columbus, Ohio.
It’s time again for a reminder about training for volunteer SKYWARN storm spotters (and those who would like to become spotters). As usual, the northern Indiana office of the National Weather Service (NWS) will provide a two-hour, in-person training session in Fort Wayne. This year’s event is scheduled for 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 20, at the Public Safety Academy, 7602 Patriot Crossing (behind the Wal-Mart and Menards stores on U.S. 27 south of Tillman Road). Check-in begins at 6:30 p.m. Readers outside the Fort Wayne area should check with their local NWS offices for SKYWARN training sessions near them.
The NWS strongly requests all participants to register in advance via this website: http://bit.ly/2BC4fsi. To be honest, registration will be accepted at the door, but it helps the NWS a lot if you register in advance. Anyone who is unable to register via the web site may register via telephone by calling the Allen County Office of Homeland Security at 260-449-4671. There is no charge.
Reports from trained spotters, however, are much more valuable, because trained spotters are less likely to be fooled by scary-looking but benign clouds and are more likely to understand what the NWS really needs to know about (and what it doesn’t).
The NWS also strongly encourages all participants to complete a free, online independent study course before the in-person training session. This course contains valuable information that meteorologists won’t have time to cover during the in-person training. The online course can be found at http://bit.ly/1Ift9f0.
I’m often asked whether the NWS requires training and if so, how often. The honest answer is that the NWS will accept a storm report from anyone, whether or not that person has taken the training. Reports from trained spotters, however, are much more valuable, because trained spotters are less likely to be fooled by scary-looking but benign clouds and are more likely to understand what the NWS really needs to know about (and what it doesn’t).
That’s why the NWS recommends that spotters take the class at least once every three years. Many spotters attend every year, because it helps remind them of important information and because the NWS occasionally updates the class with new information.
Other education opportunities
For storm spotters who are interested in deeper dives into severe meteorology and related issues, several seminars in and near Indiana provide this opportunity.
Indianapolis
The Indianapolis NWS office and the Indiana chapter of the American Meteorology Society host the biennial Central Indiana Severe Weather Symposium this year. Speakers include Alabama television meteorologist James Span, who also hosts the well-known weather podcast WeatherBrains and fellow WeatherBrain Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain, the podcast’s social science expert and a research scientist at the University of Oklahoma Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies. The all-day event takes place Saturday, March 17 on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (a change from previous symposiums at Butler University). Learn more at http://bit.ly/2EmuvtZ.
Chicago area
The annual DuPage County Advanced Severe Weather Seminar takes place in one of Chicago’s western suburbs March 10. Specifically, the all-day event happens on the campus of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. That’s about a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Fort Wayne, but I’ve always found the learning worth the drive. Learn more at http://bit.ly/2rKB9aM.
Columbus, Ohio
The Ohio State University Meteorology Club hosts its annual, day-long Severe Weather Symposium on the OSU campus Friday, March 9. I’ve also attended this event several times and found it worth the drive to Columbus. Find more information at http://bit.ly/2rPoC5O.
If you’re already a volunteer storm spotter, this class will provide a valuable refresher on what to look for what to report and what’s not really useful to warning meteorologists.
The class is also great for anyone who has any interest in severe weather, even if you don’t plan to be a regular volunteer storm spotter in the NWS SKYWARN program.
Although amateur (ham) radio operators have been an integral part of the SKYWARN program since its inception, you need not be a ham to become a SKYWARN storm spotter. There are now many other ways to send storm reports to your local NWS office. Ham radio capabilities remain helpful, however, for improved situational awareness and as a communication tool when other means fail.
As you can read in the flyer below, the class starts at 7 p.m. at the Academy, 7602 Patriot Crossing, Fort Wayne. That’s the big building behind the Walmart and Menards stores on U.S. 27 south of Tillman Road, on the south edge of Fort Wayne. Doors open for check-in at 6:30 p.m.
The class is free but pre-registration is expected. To register, simply go to http://alleninspotter.eventzilla.net/web/event?eventid=2138917591. If you know someone who wants to attend who has no internet access, have them register by phone by calling 260-449-4671.
I’ve taken the class every year for more years than I can remember and I always get something out of it. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment here or on the National Weather Service Northern Indiana Facebook page.
If you don’t live near Fort Wayne, US National Weather Service Northern Indiana plans to offer the same clase at multiple locations in northern Indiana, northwestern Ohio and southern Lower Michigan. You can find a complete list of the office’s classes here. If you live outside the area covered by the National Weather Service Northern Indiana office, contact the NWS office nearest you to learn when and where it will conduct storm spotter classes.
