Severe Weather Net 4/8/98

[Michael Nie]

Hello to all from WARN Central!

As most of you probably know, we were activated for a potentially serious 
weather situation in the early morning hours of Wednesday 4/8/98.  I was
at 
work (I work for a fire department), and was able to listen to most of the

net.  I want to thank all who participated.  The net was one of the better

ones I've heard.  Radars were showing rotation in some of the storms, 
indicating the possibility of tornado formation.  The storms had produced 
tornados earlier in the day.  Despite the wee hour of morning, many 
spotters were on the air, and stayed with us throughout.  We brought the 
net up around 1:30 AM and secured around 4:30

Here are some comments from the net control operators who ran the net. 
 These are meant to be educational, not critical.  Our goal is to maintain

a high standard for our operations so we can provide the best possible 
product to the National Weather Service, and in turn the public.



>From Joe Petrocy - W8YFS

-------------------------------

After watching the storms roll in our direction all day, and waiting
patiently as severe weather warnings came in from all over the area,
Steve and I eventually ended up at the net control point. We were resigned
to the fact that we had no hope of a good night's sleep.

Wilmington was (as is typical in these situations) extremely busy and
didn't get a chance to call up the spotter nets until the last minute.
Actually, someone (me) called to see if one was going to happen when they
said, "Now. Get one up now. We were just calling you." Not exactly the way
it is supposed to go, but when it needs to happen it should happen.

We actually beat the Wilmington net operator (WB8ZZR this night) to the
festivities. So for awhile we did not have anyone to report to! But he
made
it about ten minutes after we hit the control point.

The net went well other than some QRM on the net and picky audio on the
part of 146.880. Not only were there some very helpful reports, there were
also (we found out later) a number of excellent non-reports. These are
just
as important, folks abiding by the spotting criteria and resisting the
urge
to key down because they really didn't have anything useful to add.

We were instrumental in aiding the NWS in issuing a number of warnings.
Once again our job was done and done well. Thanks all.

-JWP
Joe Petrocy
joe at petroc.com
A.R.S. W8YFS/4
--------------
TNOS BBS:
w8yfs.ampr.org
http://w8yfs.ampr.org


-----------------------------------------------------
>From Steve Lewis - N8TFD

My thoughts are in line with Joe's (that in itself is pretty
strange...)  :-)

The number of NON-reports is encouraging.  We know that the spotters are
out there, and will check in when:

a) They see weather events which meet the criteria for being severe...
b) We call for ANYONE in their area, just to see what they are
experiencing.

And otherwise they will just LISTEN to the repeaters.


Special thanks should be given to Jake McHendrix (WD4PBF) [or the
Northern KY folks in general] from Northern KY for monitoring both
147.255+ and 147.375+ and relaying reports back to 146.88-.  (I am going
to address this more in a separate e-mail message to Jake...)

Most of all, we should thank everyone for their patience with net
control during what became a very long evening.

With one or two exceptions, we did not have to field scanner or
radar reports.  We also didn't field any requests for weather
forecasts...another positive.


-73-
------------------------------------------------------------------------  
-----

Two points to accentuate here:

1.	Sometimes, no report at all is the best report you can give.

Please adhere to the reporting criteria (available on our web page).
There 
is no need to check in to the net unless you have something to report.

2.	Also, please report only what you see with your own eyes.

This does NOT include what you may see on a radar from TV or the Internet.

 NWS already has that info.  Also, please do not report what you may hear 
on public safety frequencies or on a scanner.  These reports are usually 
relayed by the affected agencies.  Sorting through the duplicate reports 
can actually delay processing the information.


73


Please address any comments or questions to:

Mike - KB8VMX
Public Information Officer -WARN
mnie at fuse.net
http://www.warn.org


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