Net operation overview!

[Michael Nie]

Greetings from WARN Central

As many of you know, the past week has seen several instances of severe 
weather in the Cincinnati Tri-state area.  Over that time, a few issues 
have arisen that need to be addressed to keep our net operation smooth and

efficient.  This is a long issue.  We'd especially appreciate if
Cincinnati 
area amateur radio equipped spotters would take the time to read it in
it's 
entirety.

1. On Tuesday night (6/9/98) a significant episode of severe weather hit 
our area.  The west side of Cincinnati, northern Kentucky and parts of 
Clermont County were hit by high winds and hail reported as 1" in
diameter. 
 The National Weather Service (NWS) also issued a tornado warning for 
Clermont County based on radar indications of circulation in a storm.  No 
confirmation of a tornado was reported.

Several people have commented that no official weather net was activated 
for this instance.  We were ready to go, but we received no request for a 
net from the NWS.  Our net is an official part of the Skywarn system 
administered by the NWS, therefore we activate only by their request.  Due

to the significance of this outbreak we discussed the lack of net 
activation with the Meteorologist in Charge at the Wilmington NWS.  The 
bottom line is that the severe weather was really not expected and pretty 
much exploded right over our area.  Originally, precipitation was supposed

to end about midnight.  As it happened, that's about the time it really 
fired up.  Then each time it appeared to be over, another fast growing 
round hit.  Several warnings were issued using radar observations and 
spotter reports called in by phone.  The public received adequate warning.

 Anyway, with weather being an inexact science, NWS can't hit them all 
(although they really do come close).  They are going to try to give us 
time to activate the net before any expected severe weather.  (They will 
occasionally opt not to activate the ham radio nets for small or
marginally 
severe weather events.)

2. Thursday night (6/11/98) we were activated for expected severe weather.

 A few warnings were issued, but the event wasn't especially significant.

3. Friday (6/12/98) we were activated again.  To hear the media reports
all 
day long, they expected this to be "the big one".  They were predicting 
high winds, hail, and possible tornadoes from violent storms.  About 8:00 
PM we were notified that severe weather was expected to enter our area
from 
the west around 9:00 PM and asked that we have a net operating by 8:45 PM.

 First on the hit list was Ripley County, Indiana.  Dave, N9JUW was
running 
the customary net over there.  From the beginning, station were reporting
a 
short burst of high winds (about 50 MPH) and heavy rain, lasting a few 
minutes as the storms blew through.  Several severe storm warnings were 
issued.

This net is what I will spend the rest of this edition on.  Many things 
went well.  Some did not.  Maybe it's because this is the first predicted 
widespread outbreak in a while.  These comments are not meant to criticize

any individual, but only make our net work smoother in the future.  Part
of 
the problem is that we are very fortunate to have a large number of 
spotters trying to be helpful.  For that, we are grateful.  Some just need

a little "fine tuning".  We as net controls get a little rusty too.

First the good.  We received many, many reports.  Some of them met severe 
weather reporting criteria as specified by NWS.  Remember, the criteria we

use are (personally observed):

1. Winds 50 MPH or greater (or causing significant damage).
2. Rain 1" per hour or greater
3. Flooding.  Streams out of banks or 1 foot of water in a street.
4. Hail 1/2" or larger
(Measured reports are better than estimated)
5. Wall clouds, funnel clouds, tornadoes, or persistent rotation of a
storm


Now for some of the things that "need improvement".

1. Please do not report any thing you do not see with your own two eyes. 
You can, however, relay from another ham radio operator that can't reach 
the repeater.  Friday we received reports of things heard on a police 
scanner.  We cannot relay these reports.  First, we cannot call the person

back to clarify the report.  Second nobody has any way to verify the 
training level of the person speaking on the scanner.  Third, their 
dispatcher can call the report in to NWS.  If we call it in too, it may be

a duplicate and cause confusion.  As it was Friday, all indications were 
that this was not a usable report for the above reasons and a couple more.

 The report was called in as a funnel cloud on the ground.  Any trained 
spotter would have identified that as a tornado.  Also, there were several

trained ham spotters in the same area and none of them saw anything to 
indicate a tornado.  To make matters worse, at least one person came on
the 
net and accused the net control ops of being incompetent for not taking
the 
reports more seriously.  Since he didn't ID, we can't personally tell him 
HE was the one in error.  Fortunately, he was in the tiny minority.

2. We also receive radio reports of things seen on TV and internet.  We 
have all those resources and so does the National Weather Service. 
 (Actually, most of the data originates at NWS, so they have it before any

of us).  Again, please report only what you personally observe.  That is 
what the NWS is counting on us for - ground truth observations.

3. Please do not tell us that sirens are being activated, or ask us why 
they are or are not sounding.  We do not control the sirens.  The NWS does

not control the sirens.  These are controlled by a local government 
authority by a policy they set.  Each county or jurisdiction may have a 
different policy.  This information doesn't really help us or the NWS
issue 
warnings.  Somebody asked on the net Friday why the sirens in Hamilton 
County weren't being sounded for a severe thunderstorm warning as per the 
policy.  He asked several times, using airtime for each time.  Hamilton 
County's policy is to sound the sirens for any tornado warning or severe 
thunderstorm warning during a tornado watch.  Hamilton County was not
under 
a tornado watch, so the sirens were not sounded.  This adhered to policy.

4. Probably the most frequent improper report we receive is about frequent

lightning.  If you refer to the list of reporting criteria above, you will

find that lightning is not on the list.  A severe thunderstorm is defined 
as a storm with winds greater than 58 MPH and/or hail 3/4 inch in diameter

or greater.  Again, there is no mention of lightning.  Folks, all 
thunderstorms have lightning and all lightning is dangerous, therefore 
proper precautions should be taken when it approaches.  Since it doesn't 
help determine if a warning should be issued, please do not call in any 
reports of lightning.

5. Finally, there is no need to check into the weather net.  If you have a

valid report, call it in.  If we need information from a specific area, 
we'll announce it on the net.

Thanks to the multitudes that checked in to help us for these events. 
 Thanks also to the many that were "out there" that we didn't hear from 
because they didn't have anything significant report.  That's important 
too!  Much of this information is available on our web site at 
http://www.warn.org.  We also encourage all hams to check into the
training 
net every Wednesday at 19:30 EDT.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of us at WARN 
for clarification.

73,

Mike - KB8VMX - Public Information Officer
mailto:mnie at fuse.net


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