Severe Weather & Amateur Radio Field Day Weekend Coordination Message #4 – Saturday 6/24/23-Sunday 6/25/23

Hello to all..

..The following is the fourth 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 20 years for Amateur Radio Operators involved with Field Day and the NWS Boston/Norton SKYWARN Program..
..2023 Field Day weekend, unlike the past few years, will have the potential for showers, thunderstorms and isolated severe weather. Not every Field Day site will see a shower, thunderstorm or severe weather and a widespread washout is not expected. Some Field Day sites could be dry all weekend but other Field Day sites could be quite wet depending on where showers and thunderstorms develop..
..As of 830 AM Saturday Morning, showers and embedded thunderstorms are covering Western and Central Massachusetts and Rhode Island with the heaviest activity in Central Rhode Island in a north-south line moving Northeastward. This activity will spread into Eastern Massachusetts over the next 1-2 hours and will last through early afternoon. Following this activity, drier weather should occur starting late Morning in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut and spread eastward by early afternoon Saturday followed by additional but more isolated showers and thunderstorms for Saturday mid-afternoon thru early evening.
..Severe Weather potential is low for Saturday with frequent lightning and heavy downpours as the primary threat but if more instability develops than expected for Saturday afternoon, it would increase the severe weather potential. Regardless, any lightning in the vicinity of a Field Day site is a safety concern..
..For Sunday, there is a greater risk for isolated to scattered strong to severe thunderstorms with strong to damaging winds, hail, frequent lightning and heavy downpours as the main threats with the timeframe of severe weather potential as Field Day ends around and after 2 PM and could affect the takedown of Field Day sites..
..Any thunderstorms have lightning potential which is a safety hazard for all Amateur Radio Field Day sites. Amateur Radio Field Day sites are encouraged to guard their local Amateur Radio SKYWARN frequency and have multiple ways to receive weather alerts during the course of this Field Day weekend including by cell phone/Internet and NOAA Weather Radio..
..Conditions will be warm and very humid Saturday through Sunday. Temperatures will range between the mid-70s in coastal areas to the Upper 70s to mid 80s in interior areas depending upon how much heating occurs each day. Dewpoints in the low 70s will create very humid conditions. Be sure to drink plenty of liquids and guard against heat exhaustion especially during Amateur Radio Field Day setup and takedown..
..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..
..SKYWARN Self-Activation will monitor conditions throughout Field Day weekend and activate as needed to guard Amateur Radio Field Day sites to provide weather information as well as to gather reports meeting SKYWARN reporting criteria throughout this weekend..

Here are some links to information on these Amateur Radio Field Day Sites from across the region.

Amateur Radio Field Day Information: https://www.arrl.org/field-day
Amateur Radio Field Day National Locator: https://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator
Eastern Massachusetts Field Day Home Page: https://ema.arrl.org/field-day/
Eastern Massachusetts Field Day Directory: https://ema.arrl.org/field_day/

For Amateur Radio Field Day weekend, unlike past years, there will be thunderstorm potential throughout the entire period particularly in the afternoon and evening period from Saturday to Sunday but some lightning hazard potential also exists for this Saturday Morning. The headlines of this message give the current thinking and coverage area. Here is a breakdown of the hazards by each day:

Saturday Morning through Saturday Evening:
The headlines currently cover ongoing shower and embedded heavier downpours and thunderstorm activity moving through Southern New England this Saturday Morning through early afternoon and how drier conditions will occur from west to east from late Saturday Morning through early Saturday Afternoon. More isolated showers and thunderstorms will be possible in the mid-afternoon through early evening before dissipating with the loss of daytime heating. The additional isolated showers and thunderstorms are conditional based on how much heating we get as this initial Saturday Morning shower and thunderstorm activity moves out of the region and if enough instability is generated with enough of a triggering mechanism for this activity to develop.

Sunday Afternoon and Evening:
This time period still has the higher severe weather potential as there will be more sun which will heat things up more than on Saturday and allow for another round of showers and isolated to scattered strong to severe thunderstorms with strong to damaging winds, hail, frequent lightning and heavy downpours as the main threats as we get towards Sunday Afternoon and Evening around or after 2 PM as Field Day operations wind down and equipment takedown takes place. Again, the activity will be isolated to scattered and not all areas will see a shower or thunderstorm. The Sunday Morning through early afternoon period is currently expected to be dry, warm and humid.

SKYWARN Self-Activation will monitor conditions throughout Field Day weekend and activate as needed to guard Amateur Radio Field Day sites to provide weather information as well as to gather reports meeting SKYWARN reporting criteria throughout this weekend. Below are links to the NWS Boston/Norton Area Forecast Discussion, Hazardous Weather Outlook and Enhanced Hazardous Weather Outlook:

NWS Boston/Norton Area Forecast Discussion:
https://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.fxus61.KBOX.html

NWS Boston/Norton Hazardous Weather Outlook:
https://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.flus41.KBOX.html

NWS Boston/Norton Experimental Enhanced Hazardous Weather Outlook:
https://www.weather.gov/erh/ghwo?wfo=box

Amateur Radio Field Day sites are 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 as there is a threat for thunderstorm development and any thunderstorm can be a threat to the safety of Amateur Radio Field Day sites. 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:
https://wx1box.org/southern-new-england-skywarn-frequency-list/

During setup and takedown of Amateur Radio Field Day sites and even while operating, be sure to drink plenty of fluids and eat accordingly. The link below features information on Heat Safety:
https://www.weather.gov/safety/heat

With the thunderstorm threat for this weekend, now is the time to remind folks that lightning is a threat to any and all Amateur Radio Field Day sites. Remember your lightning safety tips and details on lightning safety can be seen at the following link and we have also added a link from this week’s NWS Boston/Norton Lightning Safety Awareness Week and Public Information Statements on Lightning Safety. See links below:
https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning
https://wx1box.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/lightning_safety_awareness_PNS_2023-1.pdf

The next Amateur Radio Field Day weekend coordination message will be posted by 11 PM Saturday Evening. We hope the Amateur Radio community participating in Field Day has a great weekend!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
https://ares.ema.arrl.org
https://www.wx1box.org
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