[warn-news] Net Operations

[mnie at warn.org]

Hi all,

 

It’s been a while since we’ve emailed you.  Friday night marked the first
net activity for 2021, which had zero severe weather until this weekend.
That’s a very late start to the season.  While there was quite a bit of
severe weather up in the Dayton area, it seemed to ease up just a bit before
entering the Cincinnati area proper.  There was one tornado that affected
Butler County and some minor flooding issues in the area, but all-in-all, we
sort of dodged a bullet.  Thanks to all who participated in the net in any
way.

 

I was one of the Net Control Operators  Friday.  A couple of things were
noted.  First, we can REALLY use some hams in more remote areas to provide
reports to the net.  We had several check ins from Hamilton County, but not
too much really happened there, despite some warnings.  We made calls on the
net frequencies for reports from Dearborn County and heard nothing.  We
could have used reports from Butler County, but heard nothing.  If you are a
ham that is in one of the counties surrounding Hamilton County, the National
Weather Service really depends on us as the amateur radio community to
provide them ground truth observations, so please consider tuning into the
net when severe weather occurs.  For the Cincinnati area proper, the net
frequency is 146.88-.  When severe weather affects some of our more remote
areas of northern KY, we also monitor 147.375+, with help from net controls
from NKy ARES.  Some other counties may run local nets, but all of these
reports need to filter through the Cincinnati sectional net as outlined by
the National Weather Service office in Wilmington.

 

Secondly, here’s a reminder of what we need in the way of reports:

1.	Hail ½ inch or larger.
2.	Rain 1 inch per hour or greater for a significant time.
3.	Any stream out of its banks or significant flooding.
4.	Measured winds of 50 MPH or greater (or significant damage to
structures or healthy trees).
5.	Any rotation in clouds, wall cloud, funnel cloud or tornado.

 

Hopefully everyone has been to a spotter course recently, in person, or
online.  We’re looking for exactly what the National Weather Service teaches
in spotter classes out of the Wilmington office.  We are NOT looking for
reports of power outages, sirens sounding, things seen on radar, TV or the
Internet. We can’t do anything about those, and they do not help the NWS
warn of severe weather.  We are looking for things you have seen yourself,
or you can relay from another ham radio operator who cannot make it into the
net.  Please do not relay what you have heard on police or fire scanners.
They have their own reporting channels and if we submit the same reports, it
ends up being a duplicate report that they may think is separate.  If you
call in a report that does not meet these criteria, please do not be
offended if we don’t make a big deal of it, or we remind you of the things
we need reported.

 

We just ask that under normal circumstances you stick strictly to our 5
reporting criteria.  However, sometimes we call out for reports from an area
because we as net control operators, or the NWS have seen something through
one of our information sources (yes we have multiple sources, some not
available to the general public), where we need to determine whether severe
weather is occurring in a particular location to decide if a warning is
needed.  In those limited circumstances, a report telling us that no severe
weather is occurring could help avoid issuing a warning base on marginal or
bad information.  So, while we like you so stick to the criteria, if we ask
about your area and nothing much is going on, in that case, we really need
to know that too.

 

As always, thanks to everyone who helps us support the National Weather
Service in their mission to warn the public of dangerous weather!  We have a
marginal risk of severe weather Monday, so there is a remote chance we could
be active again then.

 

Thanks again!

 

Mike Nie

 

Michael Nie – W8VMX

mnie at warn.org <mailto:mnie at mikenie.com> 

 

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