SKYWARN

Slight risk of severe weather Sunday

The entire states of Indiana and Ohio, plus the southern half of lower Michigan are at slight risk of severe weather between 8 a.m. EST Sunday, Nov. 17 and 8 a.m. EST Monday, Nov. 18, according to a Day 3 Convective Outlook that the National Weather Service (NWS) Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued at 3:30 a.m. EST today.

Forecasters say a deepening low pressure system will move northeastward from the upper Mississippi Valley into the Great Lakes region Sunday afternoon. A cold front will trail from the low, while a warm front lifts northward through the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes region.

The potential exists for storms ahead of the fronts to develop into supercells, but the extent of any tornado threat will depend on how much the atmosphere is able to destabilize, according to the convective outlook. And ongoing showers and cloud cover might limit that destabilization. Nonetheless, other storms will likely evolve into lines along the cold front and present a threat for widespread damaging straight-line wind.

SKYWARN storm spotters and others who are concerned about severe weather should be prepared to be aware of any storm watches or warnings that the NWS might issue Sunday. Our next look at the potential for severe weather will come with the SPC’s Day 2 Convective Outlook that’s due early Saturday morning.

Uncategorized

Ham radios still relevant today

Jim Boyer in Journal Gazette photo with his "go kit"
Jim Boyer, KB9IH, poses with his emergency radio “go kit” in a feature story in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. (Journal Gazette photo by Sam Hoffman)

The century-old science of radio transmissions and antennas seem archaic compared with the cellphones and tablets of today. However, James Boyer, known by his call sign KB9IH, says that most of the time, amateur radio operators are waiting for the world to catch up.

“Amateur radio is still relevant. We’re still involved with the latest and greatest technology; in fact, we probably invented it,” said James Boyer, known by his call sign KB9IH.

Read more in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.

SKYWARN

Storms possible this weekend

Sunday’s Severe Storm Outlook

Just want to send out the “heads-up” that the Live Doppler 15 Fury Weather Team is currently monitoring the potential for severe storms on Sunday. Nothing’s set in stone yet and the overall severe chance remains low as of this post, but it does, indeed, exist as the weekend comes to a close.

Read more on Nicholas Ferreri’s WANE-TV weather blog.

Disasters

Associated Churches advises Christians on Philippines disaster

Associated Churches Active in Disaster logo

NOVEMBER 12, 2013 – FORT WAYNE – Associated Churches Active in Disaster (ACAD), a ministry of Associated Churches of Fort Wayne and Allen County, today issued a statement about the response to the Typhoon Haiyan.

“We advise local Christians to pray and to provide financial support to carefully chosen organizations,” said Roger Reece, executive pastor, Associated Churches. “Prayer for victims and responders is vitally important. We also recommend that believers donate money, but so many reputable organizations are responding that we are not in a position to endorse one over another.”

Read more…

Disasters

How to help Typhoon Haiyan victims

The devastation and loss of life in the Philippines from Typhoon Haiyan is shocking. An estimated 10,000 people are dead. That’s just  mind-boggling. If you’re like me, you feel called to do something. But what? Check out this clever video from the U.S. National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD). I’ll have some more ideas underneath it.

So, you’ve taken the hint and decided to partner with your dollars to help typhoon victims. Where do you send the dollars?

My first recommendation is for members of churches and/or other religious institutions. Look to your own faith organization. For example, I’m a member of a congregation of the Presbyterian Church USA, which has a disaster response ministry called Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA). My first step, therefore, is to visit the PDA website to see if it is responding to the Philippines disaster. If you’re a United Methodist, consider the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). If you’re Lutheran, see what Lutheran Disaster Response is up to. If you’re a Jew, there’s NECHAMA. If you are Muslim, check out Islamic Relief USA. Etc., etc., you get the idea. If you don’t know what organization is responding on behalf of your faith, consult your clergy.

If there’s no response organization associated with your faith, or if you are not a member of a faith, another option is to consult the Web page of NVOAD, which produced the video public service announcement above. Nearly every bona fide national organization in the United States that’s involved in disaster response (including the faith-based organizations mentioned above) are members of NVOAD. You can find the member list here. Plus, the NVOAD site has lots of helpful information about coordinated disaster response.

So, choose the organization that best aligns with your personal philosophies and deploy your dollars to do their work. Truly, it’s the best way we can help right now.

See also: Associated Churches advises Christians on Philippines disaster

SKYWARN

Allen County cancels tornado siren test

Photograph of tornado siren

The tornado siren test that normally happens throughout Allen County, Indiana at noon on the first Wednesday of every month did not happen today. The Allen County Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notified the Allen County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) this morning that the county would not test sirens today.

ARES Emergency Coordinator Jim Moehring, KB9WWM, did not indicate in an email message why DHS canceled the test. The department, has, however, canceled tests in the past when the weather was rainy, out of fear that citizens might confuse the test with an actual tornado warning.

The National Weather Service activates weather alert radios every Wednesday morning for a weekly test and postpones the weekly test if there is a threat of severe weather on Wednesday. The NWS conducted its weekly test this morning, as usual.

SKYWARN

Local NWS: Severe risk falls to near zero

The northern Indiana office of the National Weather Service issued an Areal Forecast Discussion at 4:58 p.m. EDT in which a forecaster writes that the potential for severe weather this evening appears “well in check and approaching zero, though never quite removed entirely.”

A narrow line of intense showers is forecast to move through this evening along an approaching cold front. The forecaster writes that line will bring a risk of strong wind gusts.

The forecaster also writes, however, that pervasive, sustained rainfall throughout the day has effectively stymied the development of thunderstorms along an approaching cold front.

SKYWARN

Slight risk of severe weather remains in 4 p.m. update

A slight risk of severe weather continues for most of Indiana, extreme southern Michigan and most of Ohio, according to an updated Day 1 Convective Outlook that the National Weather Service (NWS) Storm Prediction Center issued at 4:02 p.m. EDT. The slight risk areas in the latest update are essentially the same as they were in the 9 a.m. update. The main difference is that extreme western and southwestern Indiana now have a slightly enhanced threat of a tornado.

The northern Indiana NWS office indicated in an infographic a short while ago (see my earlier post) that any severe weather in northeastern Indiana and northwestern Ohio is not expected to occur before 10 p.m.

In addition, in an email sent to SKYWARN storm spotters at 12:13 p.m. EDT, NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist Michael Lewis wrote that the day’s steady rainfall had greatly reduced the risk of severe weather but that isolated severe thunderstorms remained possible along and slightly ahead of an approaching cold front. The most likely severe threat is wind gusts of 55 mph to 60 mph. Forecaster expect no hail.

The area of greatest threat is along, south and east of U.S. 24.

Lewis said the following storm impacts are possible; branches down, weakened and dead trees down, and scattered power outages. Also, damage to weak and compromised buildings and other structures is possible.

There’s also a flooding threat. Additional rainfall amounts through midnight of one to two inches (with isolated higher amounts with thunderstorms) are possible. Significant leaf fall has caused drain blockages and subsequent street flooding.

SKYWARN

Storms now forecast after trick-or-treat hours

NWS infographic about approaching storms

As you can see in the NWS infographic above, the line of strong storms about which forecasters are concerned is not forecast to arrive in the Fort Wayne area at around 10 p.m. EDT, well after official trick-or-treat hours.

SKYWARN

NWS issues advisory for SKYWARN storm spotters

At 10:12 a.m. EDT, Michael Lewis, warning coordination meteorologist at the northern Indiana National Weather Service office, issued the following advisory to trained SKYWARN storm spotters:

From: Michael Lewis
Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2013 10:12 AM
Subject: Weather Information – 10/31/2013

Severe weather in Northern Indiana/Southern Lower Michigan and Northwest Ohio is not limited to the Spring.  September-November is another peak period for severe weather.

We are currently assessing the latest model data concerning the potential for severe weather today.

We will post our assessment as soon as we have a better idea of timing, duration and intensity.   It is hoped to have this posted before noon today.

In the meantime, the NWS in Northern Indiana continues to monitor Social Media (Facebook and Twitter)

All spotters are encouraged to review the reporting requirements and communications methods. 

Skywarn Spotter Resource Page:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/iwx/?n=nwsnorthernindianaskywarnpage#Downloads

======================================================
Northern Indiana continually monitors:

* Social Media – (Facebook / Twitter)

* e-mail (w-iwx.webmaster@noaa.gov)

Webpages of interest:
https://nwschat.weather.gov/live
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/iwx/?n=embrief
http://preview.weather.gov/edd/
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/iwx/?n=nwsnorthernindianaskywarnpage

Severe weather, ham radio & anything else I feel like writing about