SKYWARN Newsletter #205

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Hello to all...

SKYWARN Self-Activation Report from Wednesday May 28th, 2003...

SKYWARN Self-Activation Report from Thursday June 5th, 2003...

Pattern Change This Week Could Result in More Severe Weather Events...

50th Anniversary of the F4-F5 Worcester Tornado Commemorations....

Results of the National Hurricane Center Communications Test...

Links to Sites Concerning the Major Severe Weather Outbreak in early May in Midwest US...

***Newsletter Issued 6/8/03.

SKYWARN Self-Activation Report from Wednesday May 28th, 2003...

SKYWARN was self-activated for the first time this year for a convective

event that developed as more breaks of sunshine developed than expected in

a modestly unstable airmass. Thunderstorms formed in Connecticut through

Eastern Massachusetts and one of the thunderstorms in the line became

severe in Hartford County CT.

A Severe Thunderstorm Warning was posted for Hartford County Connecticut.

Connecticut SKYWARN was activated in Hartford County. Jim McBride-KD1LD

and Harvey Broverman-K1PZS were active on the 147.000 Soapstone CT

Repeater. Dime Sized Hail was reported in Enfield and Manchester, CT.

In Manchester CT, hail fell for slightly over 5 minutes covering the

ground. Reports were relayed to NWS Taunton using the IRLP link to

Eastern Massachusetts where Ray Weber-KA1JJM and I were monitoring and

reports were phoned into NWS Taunton.

The thunderstorms developed into a training configuration and this resulted

in very heavy rainfall in a short period of time and a Flash Flood Warning

was issue for Hartford County, CT. Several reports of cars submerged in

water with 2 people needing to be rescued were reported in the Hartford

and Bloomfield, CT area. Also, Beamans Brook in Bloomfield, CT overflowed

its banks.

The SKYWARN Self-Activation secured at the end of the Flash Flood Warning

at 7:15 PM as thunderstorms dissipated over the area.

In the Greater Boston area, reports of small hail were received from

Bill Ricker-N1VUX as he was monitoring the 145.23 Boston and 146.64

Waltham Repeaters. K1HRV-Dave Doe was notified to monitor the storms

on the 146.895-Walpole Repeater. No other reports of hail or severe

weather were received.

Special thanks to all who monitored this situation.

SKYWARN Self-Activation Report from Thursday June 5th, 2003...

SKYWARN was self-activated just outside of the NWS Taunton area in

New London County. Jim McBride-KD1LD reported 1.5" of rainfall with

a final total of 1.7" of rain as thunderstorms rumbled over New London

County, CT. Trees and wires were down in Jewitt City, CT. Jim reported

this information to NWS Brookhaven, NY and monitored the 146.73-Norwich

CT Repeater.

Special thanks to Jim-KD1LD for his efforts during this event that

affected New London County, Connecticut.

Pattern Change This Week Could Result in More Severe Weather Events...

The weather pattern over the past few weeks has been more like winter

than summer with nor'easter type systems producing heavy rainfall and

upper low pressure systems to the west of the region that have kept

the region in a cloudy and showery pattern for much of the past few

weeks. This pattern is now changing and a more summer-like pattern

is developing over the region.

This upcoming week shows two possibilities for thunderstorms with the

threat of at least isolated severe weather with the threat for

thunderstorms currently forecasted for Monday and Wednesday of this

week. Also, temperatures will be gradually warmer with humidity building

over the region.

Thus far in 2003, the number of severe weather events reported when

compared to the last 2 years is way below what has occurred in the last

2 years, however, it would only take a couple of sizeable severe

weather events to change that trend. SKYWARN Coordinators and

Spotters are urged to maintain their vigilance as the pattern change

that is forecasted may result in more SKYWARN Activations across

the region as thunderstorms and the potential for severe weather will

be on the rise across the region.

50th Anniversary of the F4-F5 Worcester Tornado Commemorations....

On Monday June 9th, 2003, the 50th Anniversary of the F5 Worcester

Tornado will be marked by special TV programs, a special commoration

put on by the Blue Hill Observatory and SKYWARN training for spotters

in the Worcester area.

A special slide show featuring a look back at the Worcester Tornado

is available on the NWS Taunton Web site at the following link:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/box/WorcesterTornado53.html

The following link gives the schedule of events for the Worcester Tornado

Commemeration put on by the Blue Hill Observatory

http://www.bluehill.org/events.html

Finally, SKYWARN training will also be offered for those interested

in refreshing their training and for new people interested in becoming

SKYWARN Spotters for NWS Taunton. The timeframe and location are listed

below:

06/09/2003 7-10PM Worcester Emergency Management Operations Center

Mon. 50 Skyline Drive

Worcester, MA

Special TV programs that will feature the Worcester Tornado include

the following:

Tornado Special on Channel-5 WCVB-TV Tuesday June 10th at 8 PM

The Worcester Tornado an Eye on Our Atmosphere Special by Mish Michaels

can be seen at the following dates and times:

WSBK TV-38: June 8th at 7 PM.

June 11th at 11:30 PM.

WBZ TV-4: June 15th at 5:30 PM.

Special articles from the media on Remembering the Worcester Tornado

include the following:

http://wbz4.com/atmosphere/local_story_142154116.html

http://www.whdh.com/features/articles/specialreport/A294/

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/entertainment/2209455/detail.html

While its been 50 years since the Worcester Tornado hit the area, violent

tornadoes have occurred in Southern New England since that fateful day

of June 9th, 1953. A F4 Tornado affected Windsor Locks, Connecticut on

October 3rd, 1979 and a F4 tornado affected Great Barrington, Massachusetts

on May 29th, 1995. Violent tornadoes can affect Southern New England. Let's

use this 50th Anniversary of the Worcester Tornado to remind us to

stay safe during severe weather and to continue to execute in pursuing

the SKYWARN mission of protecting life and property through timely

severe weather reporting to the National Weather Service.

Results of the National Hurricane Center Communications Test...

NWS Taunton participated in the National Hurricane Center Communications

Test on Sunday June 1st, 2003. Operations began at 2:45 PM. IRLP was

utilized and contact was made with WX4NHC as WE4B-Bob was a Net Control

who assembled contacts for the National Hurricane Center and then

the NHC made direct contact with all stations that were assembled on

the list.

A brief contact was made with the National Hurricane Center and some

brief history of New England hurricanes were discussed on the air. A

Weather report from areas were corresponded as well. After the contact,

an attempt was made to contact the National Hurricane Center on 20

Meters. Band conditions were very poor and no contact was made.

One item noted in this Communications Test that was different from

an actual Hurricane Watch Net activation is that the typical relays

into the NHC during an event on HF were not on the air. This may have

allowed for contact to the NHC.

Based on the item noted and the Communications Test results, two

lessons were learned:

1.) IRLP will need to be the primary contact mode at the onset of the

hurricane.

2.) HF relay stations that have a more robust antenna array and higher

power will be needed to assist NWS Taunton in contacting the NHC if

direct contact cannot be made by HF and IRLP goes down in the event of

a hurricane.

Other Amateurs from Southern New England also utilized HF, IRLP and

Echolink in an attempt to contact the National Hurricane Center during

the Communication Test and special thanks to all those who did participate.

Links to Sites Concerning the Major Severe Weather Outbreak in early May in Midwest US...

During the first 10-14 days of May, a very turbulent severe weather event

developed across the Midwest and Southeast US. Its been a month now and

NWS Forecast Offices have caught up on reviewing the data and have published

reports and preliminary data including pictures on these events. The following

is a representative sample of links to these various events, there are

probably many more that we are unaware of at this time:

NWS Norman, Oklahoma Office (Primary events May 8th and 9th, 2003):

May 8th event:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/storms/20030508/index.php

May 9th event:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/storms/20030509/index.php

NWS Kansas City/Pleasant Hill, MO (Primary events May 4th, 2003):

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/eax/May42003/Tor-0504.htm

NWS Memphis, Tennessee (Primary Events May 4th-7th, 2003):

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/meg/may03/events.html

NWS Paducah, KY (Primary Events May 4th, 6th and 11th, 2003):

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/pah/news/

NWS Wichita, KS (Primary Events May 4th and 8th, 2003):

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ict/cgi-bin/vuestory.pl?STORY_NUMBER=2003051414

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ict/cgi-bin/vuestory.pl?STORY_NUMBER=2003050520

National NOAA-NWS Article on Some of these Events:

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s1136.htm

That's all for this edition of the SKYWARN Newsletter.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)

ARES SKYWARN Coordinator

SEMCARES Emergency Coordinator

Pager #: (508) 354-3142

Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)

Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)

Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)

Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com

http://users.rcn.com/rmacedo

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