Volusia County SKYWARN

SKYWARN is a nationwide group of Amateur Radio Operators, REACT groups, law enforcement personnel, and home hobbyists that have one thing in common --- they all share an interest in weather in general and Severe Storm Spotting in particular. The National Weather Service is the organization that coordinates all SKYWARN activities. The local offices provide training and professional leadership. The Volusia County SKYWARN program is administered by the NWS Melbourne office. The local contact person is Jon Hall, amateur call KD4LOL. The local repeater used for SKYWARN nets is the ARES/RACES repeater 147.240+. In the event the 147.240 repeater is unavailable, meet on the 146.865- repeater.

If you have an interest in Severe Storm Spotting and have a means of communicating, either via radio or telephone, please contact Jon Hall at (904) 756-0104(home) or (904) 290-4857(cell phone), or via amateur radio call KD4LOL on either of the above mentioned repeaters or the national call frequency of 146.520 simplex.

Severe Storm Spotters are trained to recognize and report tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, damaging hail, and flooding. Periodically there are training sessions held by the NWS Melbourne staff. For schedule of upcoming sessions go to http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/spotter-talks98.htm . For online spotter training, go to http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/spotter_training/webspotter1.htm . To view the NWS Melbourne SKYWARN web page, use this link http://www.srh.noaa.gov/MLB/skywarn.html .

Many people ask why, with all the technology the NWS has at it's disposal, are spotters still necessary? Severe spotters tell the Weather Service what the Doppler Radar cannot observe. They communicate damage reports such as what is seen below so the NWS can get a real time observation of the ground truth. The Doppler Radar only tells the operator  what the winds and precipitation is doing at a certain height above ground. It cannot tell the NWS if damage is being done such as in the picture above of damage done by the 1997 New Smyrna Beach tornado, how severe the damage is, or if a Tornado is truly on the ground. This makes the trained Severe Storm Spotter a valuable resource and a tool that the NWS uses to great advantage. If you think you are interested in Severe Storm Spotting or just want further information, simply send an email to : [email protected]