CNARS...the boring stuff.
The Weather Mailer is a daily outlook that will assess the likelihood of severe weather affecting central Nebraska, and will hopefully give spotters, emergency managers, and other interested individuals a heads-up to possible situations that might require spotter activation. This will help you to decide whether you should grab your HT or road maps before you head out the door, just in case.
The outlooks will be emailed so that they can be read first thing in the morning when you wake up, and you will know whether or not to expect to be on guard.
The following is the official disclaimer message which is sent to all recipients...PLEASE READ IT!
Welcome to the Central Nebraska Amateur Radio Spotters Association Weather Mailer.
This is a service which will work to provide you with a background in severe weather terminology, forecasting, and spotter technique, and to provide an outlook for severe weather. This is not, I repeat NOT, intended as a replacement or userption of the forecast, warning, and advisory products of the Storm Prediction Center, National Weather Service, and official civil defense/emergency managment efforts. This service is merely a specialized supplement, utilizing the tools available through modern technology. It will be my effort to deliver a product which is easy to read, easy to understand, and easy to act upon.
The bulk of the outlook will consist of data that is readily available on the internet from agencies such as the NWS and SPC, but can be difficult to find and understand among all of the weather data on the internet. It is my goal to bring all of it together in one place and explain how to use it. Through this, the spotter community will be able to better serve the National Weather Service and local emergency organizations.
The Weather Mailer will consist of a semi-daily email, written by myself, and sent to severe weather spotters, emergency management officials, storm chasers, and other interested parties which will generally consist of the severe weather outlook for the following day.
Given my location and hours (Alaska, 3 hours behind Central Time), the main outlooks will be delivered the night before. The Monday Outlook will arrive at some point Sunday night.
If the weather situation warrants or requires, additional updates and advisories will be sent to the list, to alert members of impending threats or changes in the outlook.
In addition, a new version of the CNARS Weather webpage is now online, and brings together severe weather resources such as radar, satellite, forecast, outlook, and warning information from all over the web, and puts them in one place, for easy access.
I hope that you all will find this
service useful and educational, and enjoyable. Please do not hesitate
to ask me if you have any questions.
About Brian Hartmann
Brian Hartmann, KCØHOJ, was born and raised in Minden, Nebraska. He earned his degree in physical science at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Hartmann was an accomplished storm chaser throughout central Nebraska and northern Kansas. He now resides in Fairbanks, Alaska where he is a research associate with the Atmospheric Science Group of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.