Severe Weather & Amateur Radio Field Day Weekend Coordination Message #5 – Saturday 6/24/23-Sunday 6/25/23

Hello to all..

..The following is the fifth 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..
..Widespread rainfall amounts of a trace to 1″ occurred across Southern New England with isolated 1″+ amounts in portions of Southwest Massachusetts, North-Central Connecticut and Central Rhode Island per Amateur Radio and non-Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotter reports..
..As of 545 PM Saturday Evening, Doppler Radar showed showers and heavier downpours were scattered across the North Shore of Massachusetts with lighter isolated showers in Central Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut. The threat for thunderstorms and any lightning hazards is minimal and will end after sunset and the current rain showers and isolated heavier downpours in the region will also wane after sunset as well. Any thunderstorm threat for the remainder of Saturday will be very isolated and severe weather is highly unlikely..
..For Sunday, there remains 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 that take place after 2 PM through 9 PM Sunday Evening. The area with the greatest potential is across Western and Central Massachusetts, Northern Connecticut and Northwest Rhode Island but all locations in Southern New England should monitor..
..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 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 the remainder Amateur Radio Field Day weekend, the greatest risk for thunderstorms and isolated to scattered strong to severe thunderstorm potential will be Sunday Afternoon and Evening with any isolated thunderstorm threat for Saturday ending after sunset. The headlines of this message give the current thinking and coverage area. Here is a breakdown of the hazards by each day:

Saturday Evening:
The headlines currently cover ongoing shower and isolated heavy downpour activity. The threat of a thunderstorm with lightning is low and will wane completely after sunset.

Sunday Afternoon and Evening:
This time period still has the higher severe weather potential as there will be more sun and daytime heating Sunday Morning through mid-afternoon which will heat things up more than on Saturday along with high humidity and that will 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 area with the greatest potential is across Western and Central Massachusetts, Northern Connecticut and Northwest Rhode Island but all locations in Southern New England should monitor.

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 final Amateur Radio Field Day weekend coordination message will be posted by 10 AM Sunday Morning. 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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