[Skywarn] (no subject)

Sun Dec 15 10:31:20 EST 2013

Well, Thomas, I am sorry to hear the metro Louisville/Jefferson County area
is having problems maintaining an active Skywarn program.  It has been my
experience, having been involved in Skywarn and a licensed ham since 1993,
that the success or failure of local Skywarn programs depends on two major
factors:  1.  The WCM at the local WSFO must have an interest in training
and coordinating a volunteer group, and 2.  There must be at least one
non-NWS employee volunteer willing to take on the task of coordinating the
group of volunteer spotters.  This actually is usually at least two persons,
one who is a ham and coordinates with the hams, and one who is not a ham and
who coordinates with the non-ham volunteers. Keep in mind that in smaller
NWS offices, the WCM is often the #2 and has to take over the MIC duties
when the MIC is not at the office.

I used to live in a metro area in Florida of over 2 million where the
Skywarn program always fluctuated from very active to very minimal,
depending upon the actual weather.  There were several years of major storms
which spurred on interest, and then many quiet years where a lax attitude
developed.

When I moved to Cherokee County, NC, population 27,000, there was no Skywarn
program, or emergency communications of any kind.  They relied solely on
their volunteer fire corps to do everything.  I moved here on February 29,
2012.  On March 2, 2012, the county seat of Murphy was hit by an EF-3
tornado.  There are 130+ licensed hams in Cherokee County, NC.  Only two
hams, one of whom was me, stepped up to create both a local ARES group and
Skywarn group.  We now have 21 members in ARES and the NWS trained 20
spotters here last year, only 12 of whom are hams.  The creation of this
group was not easily accomplished because the attitude in the Appalachians
has always been neighbor helping neighbor, and many local hams just assumed
they would always be welcomed if there was a disaster.  The were totally
oblivious to the post 911, post Katrina FEMA mandates of NIMS training and
the AUXCOMM model in Emergency Management. This was compounded by an
attitude that the Great Smoky Mountains of NC/TN and the Blue Ridge of
Georgia block and destroy supercell thunderstorms, and the mountains don't
get hit by tornadoes.  An attitude, by the way, that any meteorologist will
tell you is false.  In 2001, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was hit
with an EF-4 that took out a five mile long, 1000 foot wide swath of trees.
Thankfully, it did not hit any of the campgrounds or populated areas of the
park.  The really crazy part is that our area is covered by four different
WSR-88D Dopper RADAR systems from Huntsville, AL; Peachtree City, GA; Greer,
SC, and Morristown, TN, but none of those RADAR beams can see into the
valley because the mountains block the signal.  Therefore, ground spotter
verification is even more critical.

Furthermore, only two counties in North Carolina fall under the CWA of a
WSFO in Tennessee.  Going through the politics of being a member of
NCARES/AUXCOMM but reporting to a station in the Tennessee ARRL section was
really a trying experience, but it was successful.  I actually have two
separate titles.  WSFO Morristown considers me to be the DEC of District 2,
comprised of Cherokee and Clay Counties of far SW North Carolina; whereas,
NCARES will only allow me to have the title of Skywarn Net Manager as they
have done away with the Skywarn DEC title in North Carolina.

I am not trying to brag or take credit for this as I did not do it alone.  I
had a great deal of support from several other local hams and the local
emergency manager.  The fact the WCM at the Morristown, TN WSFO was replaced
right after the tornado hit, and the new WCM is a ham radio operator,
probably has just as much to do with it as well.  Also, there are a number
of volunteer ham operators in and near Morristown, TN willing to man the
WX4MRX ham radio station at the WSFO for hours at a time during watches and
warnings, which makes a big difference.  I am also grateful that the
owner/trustee of the local wide-area 2 meter ham repeater supports our
efforts because we have no club repeaters or ARES maintained repeaters, so
we have to rely on a privately owned repeater.  The K4AIH repeater located
atop Joanna Bald at a height of 4200 feet has a transmission radius of over
100 miles.  Trust me when I tell you that not every ham operator in this
area appreciates our use of the wide area repeater during Tornado Watches
that last several hours.

I guess my point is that someone in the volunteer emergency communications
community has to be willing to step up, run with the ball, and be captain of
the team.  In my original post on this thread, I said that most Skywarn
programs are related to local ARES, RACES, or AUXCOMM groups, but not all.
There are Skywarn groups that are part of city/county volunteer corps that,
when activated, use public service and/or fire frequencies to make their
reports.  This is particularly true in the Midwest and Southern Plains.
There are also some Skywarn groups led by the local REACT team using GMRS
frequencies.  I would also not be surprised if you told me part of the
Louisville CWA includes a part of Ohio, which of course, creates the same
difficulties I had in creating and maintaining the volunteer side of the
program within the ham community.

IMHO, the best person to lead a Skywarn group is someone who is retired but
healthy, preferably from a military, police, fire, EMS, or similar public
service background.  This person should also have experience working with
unpaid volunteers and understand that you praise in public and criticize in
private.   Perhaps, Thomas, you would be that person.

Apologies to the rest of the group on this mailing list for taking up so
much bandwidth, but it is a point that I believe is worth making.  Those
with other ideas or opinions are more than welcome to reply.

Kevin Heyboer 
KD4UYR
AEC Cherokee County NCARES
SW Carolina Skywarn Net Manager

-----Original Message-----
From: skywarn-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:skywarn-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of I O S
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 3:45 PM
To: milton hunt
Cc: Skywarn at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Skywarn] (no subject)

Hi Milton,

I'm just getting started too. Been to one Skywarn training session. Really
suggest taking one. There is so much information, not just on tornadoes, but
on public safety issues and how to respond in an emergency. 

I have been thinking about small "Slywarn groups" maybe 20-30 in any given
area. Once a month would be great. I think it would strengthen our knowledge
base especially if hosted by a professional of some sort. 

Thanks to you and all the military personnel who keep our great country
safe. Hat's off to you sir!

Spot safely,
Tom

Tom Phillips
Island City Computers
108 South Main Street
Suite A
Plainwell, MI 49080
269-685-8263
www.islandcitycomputers.com

> On Dec 14, 2013, at 12:45 PM, milton hunt <mskiphunt at att.net> wrote:
> 
>  Greetings from Spring, Texas. Altho I am not an official "skywarn" 
> guy...I am an dedicated sky watching guy..especially around hurricane 
> season. I have tried to locate a "skywarn" group down here but all I 
> find is yall from the north. So, if yall don't mind I'll just put my 2 
> cents in whenever there is serious weather out there. I spent my 
> military life in aviation so I am pretty up to snuff on weather 
> issues. Thanks, KF5MVQ  {Skip Hunt} 
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