[HCRA] SKYWARN Stuff

[Daniel Sullivan]

Hey folks,

Its been a while since I was up there and I am sure you are all relieved at 
that thought. I will be up there around Thanksgiving sometime for a few 
days. I hope I can find a few people and say hey while home.

17 Spetember we had the remnants of Ivan blow through. In the WX4LWX NWS 
Sterling area we had the night of raining tornados. In the Commonwealth of 
Virginia, State of Maryland and State of West "By God" Virginia (as it is 
affectionately known here) there were approximately 28 tornadoes from 1500 
hrs to about 2130 hrs. To the best of my knowledge in the LWX area (northern 
VA, portions of MD and WVA) there were 2 deaths but not from the tornadoes, 
just from a thunderstorm. It was amazing. (That information is based on what 
the Washington Post is reporting.)

Here is a link on the preliminary damage assessment that is still on going. 
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/products/?prod=PNS

I do not recommend the following:

1) Being on the road when there is a tornado less that 10 miles from you.

2) Being in the path of a tornado regardless of where you live.

3) Telling Toto to behave as you see him in the Tornado!

Yeah, there was one that went right past the LWX WX office and got within a 
half mile. I was a moron extraordinaire and was on the way to the office as 
it came by. Important safety tip, when in a pine grove and oak and maple 
leaves fall on your car, realize your poor choice and seek shelter. 
Important safety tip #2, when the SKYWARN op says the weather service is 
going off the air due to a tornado heading at the office, and you are 
directly opposite the office with about 1/2 mile to travel, have a second 
pair of shorts available and reconcult Important Safety tip #1.

Luckily it got to the Dulles Airport Area after I did and I managed to hang 
out in a storm room for a few minutes. The cool part was having a group of 
meteorologists giving you a first hand SKYWARN class as you watched the 
tornado pass. First the wall cloud. Second the funnel forms. Then a debris 
return from the ground, i.e. tornado. Finally, it grows big and clear and 
spawns a second smaller funnel. I will send a seperate email with the 
pictures. (If the pictures are stripped I will get them to someone who can 
post them for your observation.) Yes, the tornado was a spawn of Bill Gates. 
The proof was it went towards the AOL HQ building down the street, and yes 
it missed. So Gates screwed up yet again. HI HI! Statewide in Virginia 
between 1500 to 2000 structures were effected based on Virginia Dept. 
Emergency Management reports the next day.

Seriously 100 warnings were issued from about 1500 to 2130 hrs. Most were 
Tornado related, with some flash flood warnings and severe t'storms tossed 
in. During the worst of it, there was never a point where I could say we in 
the weather office SKYWARN station could keep up with the outgoing warnings 
and incoming damage and tracking reports. I got there about 1800 just before 
that twister went through and until about 2045 it was insanely busy. With a 
few exceptions things did not taper off enough to stop for supper until 
after 2200 hrs. SKYWARN ops suspended at 2230 hrs. We used everything but HF 
try and keep up. APRS, 2m, 440MHz, even AIM and still the amount of traffic 
was unreal.

I can give you more gory details another time.

Anyways, hope you all have fun and catch you later.

73 es c u sn

W1NY de KO1D

Dan S.