Severe Weather and Amateur Radio Field Day Coordination Message #4 – Saturday Morning-Early Afternoon 6/24/17 Severe Weather & Heavy Rainfall Potential

June 24, 2017 Rob Macedo Leave a comment

Hello to all..

..The following is the fourth and likely final in a series of messages on Amateur Radio Field Day Weekend and providing information on the weather during this period. This is a tradition spanning over 15 years for Amateur Radio Operators involved with Field Day and the NWS Taunton SKYWARN Program..
..Severe Thunderstorms impacted portions of Middlesex and Essex County Massachusetts with damage to trees and power lines from high winds and damage from lightning strikes. Several Amateur Radio Field Day sites in these areas had to take cover from these severe thunderstorms..
..Thunderstorms with heavy rainfall and frequent lightning remain possible to across much of the NWS Taunton coverage area with a focus on Southeast New England from Saturday mid-morning through early Saturday Afternoon. There remains the potential for isolated strong to severe thunderstorms in these areas with a strong to damaging wind and perhaps even an isolated brief tornado threat particularly over Southeast New England but could extend into other parts of the area through about Noon-1 PM. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has kept areas of southeast New England in a marginal risk for severe weather..
..A High Surf Advisory is in effect through 800 PM for Southeast Coastal Massachusetts including Cape Cod and the Islands and a coastal flood statement for East Coastal Massachusetts for the Saturday Evening high tide from 1000 PM tonight through 1 AM Sunday. There were some minor coastal flood issues reported with the late Friday Evening high tide..
..After the cold front, sweeps through, rapid clearing will take place allowing for a great remainder of the weekend for the region through Sunday Afternoon with just isolated showers possible in the far distant interior on Sunday Afternoon..
..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 Day or Amateur Radio Week’ during the month of June or an ‘Amateur Radio Month’ for this month. It is both a fun/preparatory event for Ham Radio Operators for Emergency Communications scenarios..
..SKYWARN Self-Activation is likely with Ops at NWS Taunton possible through early Saturday Afternoon for isolated severe weather, thunderstorm and flood potential in the region. NWS Taunton Lightning Safety Awareness Week information, as this year’s Amateur Radio Field Day weekend is coinciding with that awareness week, can be found near the bottom of this coordination message. No SKYWARN Activation is expected from mid-Saturday Afternoon through Sunday..

Severe Thunderstorms impacted portions of Middlesex and Essex County Massachusetts with damage to trees and power lines from high winds and damage from lightning strikes. Several Amateur Radio Field Day sites in these areas had to take cover from these severe thunderstorms as the clearing and heating of the day allowed for instability to take advantage of sufficiently strong wind shear profiles despite other limiting severe weather factors to cause a cluster of severe thunderstorms in interior Northeast Massachusetts. The NWS Taunton Local Storm Report, the WX1BOX Amateur Radio log of storm events recorded and the WX1BOX Facebook Photo Album of damage photos can be seen at the following links:

NWS Taunton Local Storm Report:
http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KBOX/1706232022.nwus51.html

WX1BOX Amateur Radio Report Log:
http://beta.wx1box.org/local/reports_6_23_17.txt

NWS Taunton Facebook Album:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/wx1box/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1605848489449163

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 commonwealth of Massachusetts has declared Saturday June 24th, 2017 Amateur Radio Day in honor of the ARRL Field Day event. The details can be seen at this link:
http://ema.arrl.org/node/2241

Overnight, conditions were relatively benign with scattered downpours occurring in the NWS Taunton coverage area between midnight and 2 AM. As of 600 AM EDT Saturday Morning, Doppler Radar is showing an area of rain, some of it heavy across Southeast New York, Western Massachusetts and Western Connecticut extending southeastward with heavy downpours and possible embedded thunderstorms over Southeast Pennsylvania through Central New Jersey. All of this activity is moving eastward with heavier downpours and embedded thunderstorms are tracking northeastward. This activity will continue to move west to east into Southern New England through Saturday Morning and exit the region around midday through early afternoon. Heavy rainfall and frequent lightning are the main threats with convective showers and thunderstorms moving into the area but an isolated severe thunderstorm risk remains across much of Southern New England with an area of focus over Southern New England for a strong to damaging wind risk and possibly even an isolated brief tornado. SPC has continued the marginal risk focused on Southeast New England in the last update. Any Field day sites setting up operations or outdoors Saturday Morning through early afternoon should continue to monitor forecasts and warnings as there will remain the risk for lightning in any thunderstorms and an isolated severe thunderstorm risk with strong to damaging winds and possibly an isolated brief tornado as well.

After early this afternoon, rapid clearing will take place and a warm but less humid day is expected with temperatures in the mid-80s to lower 90s. For Saturday Night, temperatures will be much cooler with lows in the 50s to lower 60s. Temperatures on Sunday are expected to be in upper 70s through mid-80s with excellent weather expected. An isolated shower can’t be ruled out over far northwestern parts of the NWS Taunton coverage area but thunderstorms and any severe weather is not expected.

SKYWARN Self-Activation is likely with Ops at NWS Taunton possible tonight through early Saturday Afternoon for isolated severe weather, thunderstorm and flood potential in the region. No SKYWARN Activation is expected from mid-Saturday Afternoon through Sunday. Below are links to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) Day-1 Convective Outlook, NWS Taunton Special Weather Statement, NWS Taunton Hazardous Weather Outlook and NWS Taunton Experimental Enhanced Hazardous Weather Outlook:

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

NWS Taunton Special Weather Statement:
http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KBOX/1706240749.wwus81.html

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

NWS Taunton Experimental Enhanced Hazardous Weather Outlook:
https://www.weather.gov/box/ehwo

There was some minor coastal flood issues at the time of high tide late Friday Night and similar issues could be seen at this evening’s high tide and there is also a High Surf Advisory in effect through 8 PM for Southeast Coastal Massachusetts and Rhode Island including the Cape and Islands for those looking to go to the coast. The NWS Taunton High Surf Advisory Statement and Coastal Flood Statement can be seen at the following links:

NWS Taunton High Surf Advisory and Coastal Flood Statement:
http://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.whus41.KBOX.html

Amateur Radio Field Day sites are still encouraged to bring a NOAA All-Hazards Weather Radio, monitor various cell phone weather apps where Amateur Operators may have those available and have a dedicated Ham Radio that can monitor their local SKYWARN Frequency for their area as a best safety and preparedness practice. Also sites that have mobile Internet capability can utilize that capability as a way to monitor for weather information. With Mobile Internet capability, utilizing Echolink to monitor the New England Reflector system on Echolink Conference *NEW-ENG3* Node: 9123/IRLP 9123 would be helpful as well. Please see the link below for the latest SKYWARN Frequency information for the region:
http://beta.wx1box.org/node/37

During setup and takedown of Amateur Radio Field Day sites and even while operating, be sure to drink plenty of fluids and eat accordingly. Also having a jacket or sweatshirt during evenings as conditions cool etc. may also be useful while operating this year’s Field Day. The link below features information on Heat Safety:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/heat/index.shtml

This year’s Amateur Radio Field Day weekend is coinciding with Lightning Safety Awareness Week and NWS Taunton is issuing Public Information Statements on Lightning Safety. Lightning Safety tips and information can be seen at the following link:
http://beta.wx1box.org/local/lightning_safety_awareness_PNS_6_23_17.txt

This will likely be the final complete Severe Weather/Amateur Radio Field Day coordination message for this year’s event. A shortened coordination message regarding Ops at NWS Taunton will be issued if time allows and Ops at NWS Taunton are necessary for the Saturday Morning through early afternoon timeframe.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://beta.wx1box.org
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