[CVRC] May 3 SKYWARN Drill; After-Action Report

[Matthew Parker]

Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)
Washoe County, Nevada
After-Incident Action Report


Incident Name:  Spring 2002 Reno SKYWARN Drill
Incident Date:  May 3, 2002
Participating Agencies:  Northern Nevada Amateur Radio Services (NNARS)
Cooperating Agencies:  Sierra Nevada Amateur Radio Society
Management Personnel:  Matt Parker, ARES DEC, Nevada Northern Region


Details of Incident

A SKYWARN Drill was planned with the National Weather Service (NWS)
Forecast Office in Reno.  In conjunction with National Lightning Safety
Awareness Week, the drill was scheduled for Friday, May 3.  On this date,
the NWS had plans to test their alert and warning systems with the
inclusion of a test Severe Thunderstorm Watch issued by the Storm
Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.  The issuance of this watch and
subsequent tests of alert systems including EAS became the basis for a
drill net testing the abilities of amateur radio operators to support the
SKYWARN severe weather spotting program of the NWS by providing reports of
severe weather conditions during a simulated outbreak of severe weather
across the Northwestern Nevada region.


Response to Incident

Subsequent to the issuance of the test watch from the Storm Prediction
center, a drill net was called into action at approximately 1015 hours
local on the 146.61/147.39 linked repeater system. Upon the opening of the
net, 12 stations immediately checked in; of those, 9 were registered
SKYWARN spotters.  Five additional stations joined in the net at various
periods after initial check-ins were taken.

Announcements in advance of the drill had prompted potential participants
to generate their own reports of simulated severe weather conditions from
their respective locations.  Participants in the exercise responded
admirably to this request ; almost immediately after initial check-ins were
taken, the first simulated reports of severe weather were received at
NWS.  Participating stations continued to radio in frequent simulated
reports of changing conditions from around the area for a period of nearly
3 =BD hours through approximately 1340 hours.  The variety of conditions
reported was quite good as well, including such conditions as large hail,
heavy rain, damaging winds, frequent lightning, rising water and debris in
the Walker River, wall clouds, and a tornado.  Some participants included
simulated damage reports from their areas with updates regarding public
works clean-up/flood control efforts as well.

Things begin to wind down between 1340 and 1400 hours; with no further
simulated severe weather reports coming in, the net was called to a close
at the time the test watch expired at 1400 hours.  Through the course of
the exercise, 53 reports of simulated severe weather conditions or damage
were received.


Operational Issues

Two minor operational problems occurred during the exercise.  Due to the
proximity of the amateur radio equipment to that used by NWS personnel for
recording announcement  message for the weather radio equipment, we found
it necessary to cease net operations for approximately 10 minutes while NWS
personnel were recording a message on the system.  In addition, at one
point during the drill the software we were using to track stations
assigned on the net and log reports by computer locked up and had to be
restarted.  This issue was minor in scope as all data entered into the
program was still present when it was restarted.  This was our first use of
this software; it proved to be very useful for tracking stations assigned
in an incident as well as logging events by computer, and we are looking
forward to using it during future exercises as well as actual
responses.   Aside from the issues noted, all operations went very well.

I was very pleased with the job the participants in the exercise did.  As
previously noted, they did an exceptional job in generating simulated
reports of severe weather conditions and damage.  These reports were being
fed to net control at the NWS Office almost continuously throughout the
first 3 =BD hours of what was planned as a four hour exercise.  These=
 efforts
on the part of the participants filled out the time blocked for the drill
very well and made for an outstanding exercise that far exceeded my
expectations.  The manner in which the reports were handled by the
participating stations was outstanding as well.  The exercise provided a
successful demonstration of the readiness of area amateur radio operators
and the new radio station equipment installed at the NWS Office to provide
support for the Reno Forecast Office and it SKYWARN Spotter Program during
future occurrences of severe weather in this area.

The following persons participated in this exercise:

Jack Goetz, WA2FDK*          Bob Evans, N6YMA*       Harry Bryant, KC7HVM*
Jack Martincavage, KC7TCO*   Ed Wolf, N6HPQ          Matt Parker, N7TOD*  **
Chad Odegaard, KD7JRL*       Zahra Anise, W7ZMA*     Tony Ustica, KB7ZDT*
Ronnie Jo Janssen, K0RJO*    Rob Lewis, K0ROB*       Peter Young, KD7OZB
Dan Carpenter, KD7MAV        Steve Kruse, KD7NGY     Cheryl Foreman, K7CAF
John Zinnick, KD7QFN         Mark Spencer, WA8SME*   Jim Roche, N9UVH*

* Registered SKYWARN Weather Spotter
** Net Control at NWS Office

The following counties were represented in the exercise:

Washoe              Carson City            Douglas
Lyon                Churchill              Pershing
Mono (California)

It is noteworthy that participants Ronnie Jo Janssen and Rob Lewis are both
from Dickinson, North Dakota and are registered SKYWARN spotters back in
their home territory.  They were in the Lovelock area as part of a road
construction crew working on Interstate 80 and took time to participate in
the drill, providing some excellent reports.  Also of note is that we
signed up one new spotter during the exercise and have signed up another of
the participants subsequent to the exercise.  Again, thanks are due to the
Sierra Nevada Amateur Radio Society for their support in allowing us to use
the 146.61/147.39 repeater system for this exercise.



Submitted May 16, 2002;
Matthew B. Parker, N7TOD
ARES District Emergency Coordinator - Nevada Northern District

Matthew B. Parker, N7TOD
Chairman, Northern Nevada Amateur Radio Services
http://www.qsl.net/nnars
ARES District Emergency Coordinator - Nevada Northern District