Amateur Radio Field Day/Severe Weather Coordination Message #4 – Sunday 6/23/13

June 23, 2013 Rob Macedo Leave a comment

Hello to all..

..The following is the fourth and final complete message in a series of messages on Amateur Radio Field Day Weekend and providing information on the heat and severe weather potential during this period..
..Conditions will be warm and humid on Sunday so any Field Day sites doing operating and take down today should exercise caution due to the warm conditions by going slow and drinking plenty of liquids. Temperatures will be in the Upper 80s to around 90 Degrees Sunday..
..Isolated to Scattered Strong to Severe Thunderstorms remain possible this Sunday afternoon into early evening as conditions will be warm and humid and weak impulses in the atmosphere may allow for instability to be tapped to cause isolated to scattered strong to severe thunderstorms to organize over the area. The greatest threat for today will be interior Southern New England particularly along and north of the Mass. Pike. Coastal areas should escape most if not all thunderstorm activity. Also, remember, that even non-severe thunderstorms with their attendant lightning risk, are a threat to Amateur Radio Field Day sites. While there is this potential, most of Sunday should be dry across the region. SKYWARN Activation with Ops at NWS Taunton remain possible on Sunday if the thunderstorm potential is widespread enough and becomes more defined..
..Amateur Radio Field Day Weekend is an annual event where Ham Operators across the United States setup at Emergency Operations Centers, field locations, home locations etc. to operate and test their equipment and skills and make as many radio contacts as possible during the weekend. Many locations can be visited by the public and Amateur Radio Field Day can be a form of outreach to Ham and non-Ham Operators. It is also noted that several states have given proclamations to Amateur Radio/Ham Radio Operators for either an ‘Amateur Radio Week’ during the month of June or ‘Amateur Radio Month’ for this month. It is both a fun/preparatory event for Ham Radio Operators for Emergency Communications scenarios..
..As have been done over the past 10 plus years, this will be the fourth and final complete message in a series of Severe Weather/Amateur Radio Field Day Coordination Messages to pass instructions to Amateur Radio Field Day sites on what to do if threatening weather approaches and to have Field Day sites guard their SKYWARN repeaters as required if threatening weather approaches..
..Unlike past years, Amateur Radio Field Day Weekend doesn’t coincide with Lightning Awareness Week so lightning safety information from NOAA’s Lightning Safety web site has been posted for awareness for all Amateur Radio Field Day Sites..

There are a large number of Amateur Radio Field Day sites across the NWS Taunton Coverage Area and adjacent NWS Coverage Areas. Here are some links to information on these Amateur Radio Field Day Sites from across the region

Amateur Radio Field Day Information: http://www.arrl.org/field-day

Amateur Radio Field Day National Locator: http://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator

Eastern Massachusetts Field Day Home Page: http://fd.ema.arrl.org/

The Charlestown RI EOC Ham Team Field Day Site will be located at Ninigret Park in Charlestown, RI. The site is the former location of the Charlestown Naval Air Station. The Westerly RI EOC Team will be joining the Charlestown RI EOC Ham Team once again this year for the joint effort per John Zabriskie-W1JPZ.

For today, the atmosphere should heat up sufficiently with instability and a greater possibility of isolated to scattered strong to severe thunderstorms with any impulse that moves into the area during peak heating as well as a few more scattered non-severe thunderstorms with lightning as a hazard. The timing of any impulses is uncertain but Doppler Radar shows ongoing activity in Northern New England and additional activity may form where skies remain clear and allow for instability to increase in interior Southern New England particularly along and north of the Mass Pike through Southern New Hampshire. Coastal areas should escape most if not all thunderstorm activity. The timeframe will be this afternoon to early evening as Field Day operations wind down and takedown of sites occur.

Amateur Radio Field Day sites active Sunday and taking down their equipment today should use caution and keep an eye to the sky and monitor their local SKYWARN Repeater, NOAA Weather Radio or weather information via Internet and media resources to guard against safety issues if thunderstorms, even if they are non-severe, occur in the region due to the potential lightning risk on radio equipment and antennas. Proper grounding of antennas is essential to help reduce any risk from lightning. Below is the NWS Taunton Hazardous Weather Outlook and SPC Day-1 Convective Outlook:

NWS Taunton Hazardous Weather Outlook: http://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.flus41.KBOX.html

SPC Day-1 Convective Outlook:
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day1otlk.html

SKYWARN Activation with Ops at NWS Taunton remain possible on Sunday if the thunderstorm potential is widespread enough and becomes more defined. SKYWARN monitoring for non-severe thunderstorms and their lightning risk will be done throughout the weekend to protect Amateur Radio Field Day sites as required.

Also, as stated previously, remember that non-severe thunderstorms can pose a threat to Amateur Radio Field Day sites due to the threat of lightning. Please keep this in mind if you have an outdoor Field Day site. The following is a link for lightning safety information:

NWS Lightning Safety Awareness Home Page: http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/

Severe Weather Safety Tips and Information can be found via the following links:

NWS Taunton Severe Weather Preparedness Week Web Site:
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/announcement/svrWxAwareWeek/index.php

NWS Taunton Public Information Statements for Severe Weather Preparedness Week:
http://beta.wx1box.org/local/svr_prepare_wk_2013.txt

Given that heat for the remainder of this weekend, any groups operating Field Day on Sunday and doing takedown of equipment today should take it slow and drink plenty of liquids. The link below features information on Heat Safety:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/heat/index.shtml

Field Day sites are encouraged to bring a NOAA All-Hazards Weather Radio and a dedicated Ham Radio that can monitor their local SKYWARN Frequency for their area or if they have mobile Internet capability, that is also a way to monitor for weather information if thunderstorms, even that are non-severe, approach your area. With Mobile Internet capability, utilizing Echolink to monitor the New England Reflector system on Echolink Conference Node: 9123/IRLP 9123 would be helpful. Please see the link below for the latest SKYWARN Frequency information for the region:
http://beta.wx1box.org/node/37

This will be the last coordination message for Amateur Radio Field Day activities except for a shortened coordination message if Ops at NWS Taunton are initiated later today for possible severe weather/thunderstorm monitoring.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section 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://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://beta.wx1box.org
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