Ham Policy Guide For Chaves Skywarn Storm Spotters
This guide is for Chaves
County amateur radio operators only.
It is not intended for non-ham Skywarn storm spotters. It outlines the policy for Chaves County hams
when fast-moving storms threaten. It
does not include ham radio frequencies or net operating procedures. Nor does it include severe storm
characteristics or observing techniques.
These are available in separate documents and through Skywarn training
sessions offered by the NWS.
This guide is oriented
toward severe, faster moving storms that represent a possible threat to life or
property. Examples are wind, hail,
flash flooding, lightening, and tornadoes.
It is not directed toward observations of slowly rising water,
accumulating snowfall, ice storms, etc. – even though these may in-time
represent a threat.
In Chaves County, the ham
Skywarn program is closely integrated with the Chaves Amateur Radio Emergency
Service (CARES), which is in turn associated with the Pecos Valley Amateur
Radio Club (PVARC).
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Safety – No ham storm spotter will be asked to risk danger
to life or property. No spotter will be
asked to “chase storms,” although some individuals may choose to do so at their
own expense and risk.
The ham spotter is asked for
observations from wherever that spotter happens to be. If he or she chooses to drive to some other
location to get a better view of the storm, the observations will be gladly
accepted – but this must be at the spotter’s own initiative.
When possible, the ham radio net control
station will attempt to inform ham spotters of storm progress and warn them of
any danger observed heading their way -- this may not always be possible.
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Who, Where, What – The storm
spotter’s observations take the form of who you are, exactly where you are, and
what you see -- and what direction and estimated distance the observed object
is from you.
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Spotter
Communications -- The spotter keeps
radio transmissions short and to the point, avoiding “gee whiz” observations,
comparisons to previous experiences, speculation and unrelated side
conversations with other hams.
The spotter is there primarily to
augment NWS electronic data with the human eyeball. This implies that the primary flow of information is from the
spotters to the NWS Forecast Office, rather than from the NWS Office to the
spotters.
About the only data that normally flows
from the NWS to the spotters are queries for further details and warnings of
impending danger to the spotter(s).
Time permitting, some storm status information may flow down from the
NWS Forecast Office directly to spotters, but spotters must not count on this.
In Chaves County, the ham net control
station usually has access to storm position and status, watch boxes and
warning boxes – all from Internet Doppler radar screens. Watches and warning text messages, issued by
the NWS, are also usually available to the NCS. Weather Radio broadcasts are available in the event of Internet
failure. These data are relayed to the
spotters by the NCS, as net traffic permits.
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Observed Tornadoes
and Flash Floods – The storm spotter
normally passes observations to the NCS for consolidation and forwarding to the
NWS Forecast Office. In the event of a
pending threat to life or property, the NCS will pass the observations directly
to the local emergency manager, before reporting to the NWS.
Time may sometimes be so critical that
the ham spotter must immediately call 911, without going through net
control. In those instances, the
spotter making the call must identify by name and as a trained ham Skywarn
observer. (The annual NWS Skywarn
classes conducted by the NWS constitute observer training.
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Warning
Responsibility – The ham Skywarn
volunteer must be careful not to become a link in the
communication channel between the NWS Forecast Office and emergency
management. Nor should the spotter
serve as a relay for severe weather warnings to civil responders, such as
police and fire. These warnings are
best handled via the usual government and commercial communication
channels. The government and commercial
circuits will normally work right up to the time the storm hits.
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After The Storm – Depending on damage to infrastructure, ARES (or possibly RACES) may be called to provide support
to the local Emergency Manager and emergency management organizations. The ARES DEC or his designee will contact,
as soon as practical, the local Office of Emergency Management to
determine if ARES and or RACES support is requested by the Emergency
Manager. This can be done either by phone or by going to the local
EOC. Skywarn volunteers may, at
that time, be asked to “put on their ARES hats” and provide emergency
communication support.
Corrections, Suggestions, New Material
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