Introduction

On April 26, 2001 members and friends of the Chesapeake Amateur Radio Service in cooperation with the City of Chesapeake Project Impact and the National Weather Service (NWS) located in Wakefield attended SKYWARN training. Since that time a number of classes have been held locally. SKYWARN Spotter's numbers are good for 3 years. Spotters need to attend a training session at least every 3 years to maintain a valid number.

SKYWARN is not affiliated with any club and is designed to support NWS Wakefield with field observations that normal weather station equipment including Doppler radar may not see. The W4CAR tower is centrally located and has good coverage of the South Hampton Roads area. The City of Chesapeake has asked that the CARS club take responsibility in making sure that SKYWARN operations continue. However, CARS membership is NOT required to participate in the net, to receive spotter's training or to act as a Net Control Station. Spotter's training is open to all, including those without radios or radio license. During the training mode, non-spotters may check into the net.

The W4CAR SKYWARN Emergency Net is activated during NWS severe weather alerts. This is in keeping with our resolution of Amateur Radio Public Service Communications for the City of Chesapeake, Virginia. The city recognized our activities in a Letter from the Office of Emergency Management.

Our SKYWARN observations will be coordinated on the W4CAR Repeater 146.820 MHz and sent to the Wakefield NWS office.

SKYWARN training classes for ALL interested Amateur Radio operators and non-operators and friends are provided periodically by NWS Wakefield and will be scheduled by the local SKYWARN Coordinator. Please check the "Events" section for date, time and location.

Basic Operating Procedure

NWS is looking for the following information for all SKYWARN Reports:

• When: Start Time and, if possible, Duration of the weather event
• Where: Location, Movement, and Damage
• What: Types of event(s) being reported

Weather Conditions requiring reporting:

• Tornadoes: Locations, Movement, and Damage
• Wind: 50 miles per hour or more (wrist size branches broken off trees, trees down or power lines down)
• Hail: Pea size or larger in diameter
• Flooding: River or creeks about to go out of their banks; water over roads or any coastal flooding
• Snowfall: Depths of 2" or more, and 1 ft or more per hour
• Icing: Any Accumulation or Damage

For more information on training go to the NWS page:

Or go to the links on the Weather Page.

Training Manuals

1. South Hampton Roads SKYWARN NET Participants Manual
2. NWS Basic Spotter's Field Guide
3. NWS Advanced Spotter's Field Guide
4. Storm Spotter's Guide
5. SKYWARN NCS Manual, National Edition
6. South Hampton Roads SKYWARN NCS Manual
7. SKYWARN Log Sheet
8. Weekly Training Script
9. NCS Summer Script