Skywarn Info and Weather Net Activation Info

[Michael Nie]

News from the Weather Amateur Radio Network
-----------------------------------------------

Warn is sending this out to clarify a couple of misconceptions about 
Skywarn and when our weather net is activated.  With the severe weather 
season approaching, and one net already under our belts, now seems like a 
good time to explain the program.

First, WARN is the amateur radio section of the local chapter of the 
national organization known as Skywarn.  This is a volunteer program 
officially organized and directed by the National Weather Service.  By way

of clarification, here are some things Skywarn is not:

1.	For us HAMs, it's not an ARRL program.
2.	It is also not a program of any Emergency Management Agency.
3.	It is not a storm chasing club.

Now, this doesn't mean you can't do more than one of the above, it's just 
not an official act under the auspices of Skywarn.  Local Skywarn spotters

may have an affiliation with their local EMA, which probably works to 
everyone's benefit too.  Skywarn's one and only task is to provide severe 
weather observations to the NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE office with WARNING 
RESPONSIBILITY for the area they operate in.

Each skywarn section is administered by the National Weather Service 
office.  They are the ones that direct the activities of their program.
If 
you want more information about how the local program works in your area, 
contact the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the NWS office that 
covers your area.  The Wilmington, OH office covers southwest Ohio, 
northern Kentucky, and southeast Indiana.  This area is broken down into 5

sub-sections.  WARN is the Cincinnati section.  This section covers the 
following counties:

In Ohio:

Butler
Clermont
Hamilton
Warren

In Indiana:

Dearborn
Franklin
Ohio
Ripley
Switzerland

In Kentucky:

Boone
Bracken
Campbell
Carroll
Gallatin
Grant
Kenton
Owen
Pendleton
Robertson

We don't get many reports from some of the counties remote from
Cincinnati. 
 There are a couple of reasons for this.  First, there probably aren't
many 
ham's comparatively speaking.  Also, radio coverage may not be adequate 
from Cincinnati.  Storm spotting is a great recruiting tool.  WARN has
been 
accompanying the NWS meteorologists to many of the non-ham spotting 
courses, giving a short introduction to ham radio.  At some of the 
sessions, there has been a lot of interest.  If you know of anyone in our 
remote counties that may be interested, please try to talk them into 
getting their ham ticket.  Once they're on the air they'll be hooked and 
realize how much more hams can do than storm spotting.  This will benefit 
everyone, Skywarn, RACES, ARES, etc.  If we can get enough people active
in 
the remote areas, they can run their own nets locally and someone with 
enough "ooomph" can send them to us for relay to Wilmington.  Let's face 
it, the terrain in our part of the country is awful for what we do with 
radios!

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

And now for our activation procedure:

The WARN net is activated on the 146.88 repeater at the request of the 
National Weather Service whenever the NWS needs information from field 
spotters in our 19 county area surrounding Cincinnati.  Some areas distant

from this repeater run local nets that in turn forward information to us. 
 Many people think we are only a Hamilton County net.  Not true.  We 
in-turn forward the information to the NWS in Wilmington.  Similar
programs 
operate out of Dayton, OH, - Columbus, OH, - West Union, OH and
Wilmington, 
OH.  All forward their reports to the Wilmington office.

Also, some people seem upset when we don't bring up a net when we are
under 
a weather watch.  Again, remember, we operate at the direction of the NWS.

 We activate when they instruct us to, and secure when they tell us to.
We 
do not self-activate, or automatically activate when a watch is issued. 
 The purpose of this is simple.  A watch means severe weather is possible.

 It may not even happen.  We can't ask our people to sit around for hours 
for what might happen.  When the NWS feels storm probability justifies a 
net, then they will activate us and we will bring up the net.

Hope this clarifies the Skywarn program and our net activation procedure. 
 If you have any questions on how this works, please contact 
mailto:mnie at fuse.net

73,

Mike Nie - KB8VMX
Public Information Officer - WARN


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