MINUTES OF AUGUST 2009
THERE WAS NO TREASURE REPORT, ED UNDER THE WEATHER.
UNDER MEMBERSHIP REPORT ,ONE NEW MEMBER WAS VOTED ON AND ACCEPTED.
MINUTES OF THE JULY MEETING WERE READ AND ACCEPTED.
MAJOR TOPIC OF DISCUSSION WAS THE ATLANTA PEACHTREE CITY WEATHER
OPERATIONS IN GEORGIA. ATLANTA NWS ( WX4PTC ) IS THE BACKUP IF BMX GOES
DOWN. JUST IN CASE ATLANTA CAN BE REACHED IN TWO WAYS 1. TOLL FREE NUMBER 2 .VIA CHAT ON THE INTERNET. HUNTSVILLE IS THE SECOND BACKUP TO BMX.
NWS UPDATE,
A NEW MEMBER OF THE NWS STAFF,MARY WAS INTRODUCED TO THE GROUP.
THE NEW LAYOUT FOR THE FORCAST OFFICE WAS TALKED ABOUT.
EVERY ONE WAS REMINDED TO UPDATE THER PASSWORDS.
SPOTTER TRAINING SCHULE WILL BE POSTED ON THE WEB SOME TIME NEXT MOUTH.
BASIC STORM SPOTTER CLASS WILL BE PRESENTED ,WITH A GRADUATE TRAINNING CLASS ON THE INTERNET.
MINUTES OF AUGUST 2009
THERE WAS NO TREASURE REPORT, ED UNDER THE WEATHER.
UNDER MEMBERSHIP REPORT ,ONE NEW MEMBER WAS VOTED ON AND ACCEPTED.
MINUTES OF THE JULY MEETING WERE READ AND ACCEPTED.
MAJOR TOPIC OF DISCUSSION WAS THE ATLANTA PEACHTREE CITY WEATHER
OPERATIONS IN GEORGIA. ATLANTA NWS ( WX4PTC ) IS THE BACKUP IF BMX GOES
DOWN. JUST IN CASE ATLANTA CAN BE REACHED IN TWO WAYS 1. TOLL FREE NUMBER 2 .VIA CHAT ON THE INTERNET. HUNTSVILLE IS THE SECOND BACKUP TO BMX.
NWS UPDATE,
A NEW MEMBER OF THE NWS STAFF,MARY WAS INTRODUCED TO THE GROUP.
THE NEW LAYOUT FOR THE FORCAST OFFICE WAS TALKED ABOUT.
EVERY ONE WAS REMINDED TO UPDATE THER PASSWORDS.
SPOTTER TRAINING SCHULE WILL BE POSTED ON THE WEB SOME TIME NEXT MOUTH.
BASIC STORM SPOTTER CLASS WILL BE PRESENTED ,WITH A GRADUATE TRAINNING CLASS ON THE INTERNET.
Continue readingThe next ALERT meeting will be at the National Weather Service at 7:00 pm CST on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009.
If you are not able to make the meeting in person try the teleconference.
Every effort will be made to have teleconferencing available for each meeting, to participate:
Please call: (877) 951-0997 and enter participants code 741083.
The next ALERT meeting will be at the National Weather Service at 7:00 pm CST on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009.
If you are not able to make the meeting in person try the teleconference.
Every effort will be made to have teleconferencing available for each meeting, to participate:
Please call: (877) 951-0997 and enter participants code 741083.
Continue readingHi Everyone,
I hope this finds everyone enjoying the unusually cool summer. I’m hoping this weather will hold out for Teresa and I to do some serious camping at Tannehill, preferably by the creek.
My Sister in Florida for a short time lived in Boston. She mentioned a “creek” and the Bostonians had no clue as to what she was talking about. You see they don’t have creeks up there. No, certainly not. They have “brooks”. Babbling brooks.
I guess they never heard of “up a creek without a paddle”. Or sweet tea either, for that matter. The poor deprived souls. We southerners did try to spread some cultural enlightenment to the northerners back in the early 1860’s, but apparently it was to no avail.
At the August meeting I profiled our sister station WX4PTC in Atlanta. The Atlanta / Peachtree City NWS Forecast Office is the backup office for the Birmingham office and vice versa. If Birmingham goes down, severe storm reports would be sent to Peachtree City & they would issue the warnings, as would Birmingham if Atlanta goes down.
What can knock out a WFO? Computer failure, power failure and the backup generator being knocked out or running out of fuel (which has been known to happen) & physical damage to the office, either weather related or mad made – accidental or otherwise.
All Forecast Offices have multiple redundant emergency plans, and it is useful for us to have some familiarity with ours.
Our “Home” of course is the NWS Birmingham
Birmingham’s Emergency Number is 1-800-856-0758
Our NWSChat address is bmxchat
Amatuer Radio Operations are conducted by ALERT at K4NWS
HF Operations are conducted on 3.965 MHz with backup of 7.245 MHz
Our Primary Backup is the NWS Peachtree City (Atlanta)
Peachtree City’s Emergency Number is 1-866-763-4466
The NWSchat address is ffcchat
Amatuer Radio Operations are conducted by Georgia Skywarn at WX4PTC
When activated, HF Operations are conducted on 3.975 MHz
Our Secondary Backup is NWS Huntsville
Huntsville’s Emergency Number is 1-256-890-8503
The NWSchat address is hunchat
Amatuer Radio Operations are conducted by North Alabama Skywarn at WX4HUN
When activated, HF Operations are conducted on 3.965 MHz with backup of 7.245 MHz
Our Tertiary Backup is NWS Little Rock
Little Rock’s Emergency Number is 1-800-482-8471
Little Rock’s NWSchat address is lzkchat
Amatuer Radio Operations are conducted by the Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Net (CAREN) with the W5DI wide coverage system.
When activated, HF Operations are conducted on 3.9875 MHz
It would be a rare occasion if NWS Birmingham went down, but it has happened before, due to computer failure. Peachtree City once went down due to a power failure, both primary and backup.
The Huntsville Office had to take cover once due to a tornado bearing down on the WFO.
How do you know when something is awry? You will know Birmingham has gone down if you see NWS products for Central Alabama being issued by the Peachtree City office, if you dial the emergency line and it is out of order or if K4NWS or ALERT informs you that the BMX is temporarily out of commission.
In that event if you have severe weather reports you should call Peachtree City’s emergency number. Report just as you would with Birmingham, except mention that you are in Alabama, as they may have the same county names.
NWSchats of other WFO’s may be accessed by any Operational Member with NWSchat capability.
Simply go to the buddy list, click “buddies”, then click “join a chat” & on the window that pops up enter the chatroom name, such as ffcchat. Click join a chat & you are there. If you want to permanently add the room you click “conversation” on the chat window & then hit “add”. Yet another window pops up & you can name the chatroom under “alias”. Then hit add & you are done.
I have these already programmed in, as well as the Jackson WFO, so I can get a sneak preview of what is headed our way. I also have the WXSpots program running in the background, but, that’s something we will talk about at a later time.
As for Amateur operations, the chances are very good that their ham group will not be active, just as ALERT usually isn’t active unless the Birmingham CWA is being effected, though K4NWS & WX4PTC have contacted each other in the pasts during tests.
In the unlikely event that Atlanta & Birmingham goes down, then resort to Huntsville. And, in the very remote chance all three offices go down, then Little Rock is your office
To be honest though, if we have a situation where all three WFO’s are dead, this would indicate either the weirdest of bad luck or that a regional disaster has occurred on the scale of Katrina or worse. Which may be why our tertiary backup is in Little Rock, located outside of the Southeastern US.
In a scenario THAT bad, my focus probably would not be on storm spotting, but on remembering and utilizing basic survival skills.
Which is a subject we all should have some knowledge of.
We’ll just hope that a day like that never arises (but, always be prepared).
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
On a lighter note, here is your opportunity to dazzle folk, be a babe magnet & otherwise appear wondermous & weatherwise.
Courtesy of the El Paso office here is your fake Weather Phrase Finder!
http://www.srh.weather.gov/epz/wxcalc/weathertermcalc.shtml
Use it & you also can tell folk that the Cumulative Orographic Equilibrium is effecting your
sinuses. And, 99% of them will have no clue that you have just served a plate of pure bull.
Try it. You’ll like it!
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Mark’s Almanac
September is the ninth month of the year and the seventh month on the Roman calendar, which is where the month gets its name.
Normally temperatures are usually still hot at the beginning of the month, and, by months end, fall is definitely felt. However with our 2009 El Nino, it feels as if fall has already arrived.
Noticeable in September will be the thickening of the cat’s fur, as she begins growing her winter coat & the drift of Yellow Giant Sulphur Butterflies as they migrate towards Florida.
Weather starts shifting from the summer to autumn pattern and back again. Storms resemble the August pattern, but the Bermuda High will starts shifting southward and begin weakening, which will weaken the blocking effect it has had which prevented fronts from invading from the northwest.
September is the peak of the hurricane season, the actual peak being on September 10. This peak coincides with the time of “syzygy”, when the combination of the sun and moon’s gravity and autumnal equinox combine to provide the highest astronomical tides of the year. Add a hurricane’s storm surge on top of this and you can have incredibly destructive flooding.
September Tropical Cyclone Breeding Grounds
Alabama has lost its position as the national tornado champ. The statistics as of September 1 are:
Texas 102
Alabama 100
Kansas 87
Georgia 64
Missouri 63
Fall begins at Autumnal Equinox on September 22, 2009 at 4:18 P.M. CDT.
On this date, if there is sufficient solar activity, and you are away from city lights, the aurora may possibly be seen, as the Equinox dates are the two most favored times of the year for auroral sightings.
September’s Full Moon is “Harvest Moon” in Native American folklore. So called because the moon is larger and seems to rise at almost the same time every night, which allowed harvesting to continue on into the evening.
…………………………………………………………………………………….
This month’s meeting will be on September 8 at 7PM at the National Weather Service
forecast office at the Shelby County Airport
I hope to see you there.
Mark
WD4NYL
President
ALERT
Hi Everyone,
I hope this finds everyone enjoying the unusually cool summer. I’m hoping this weather will hold out for Teresa and I to do some serious camping at Tannehill, preferably by the creek.
My Sister in Florida for a short time lived in Boston. She mentioned a “creek” and the Bostonians had no clue as to what she was talking about. You see they don’t have creeks up there. No, certainly not. They have “brooks”. Babbling brooks.
I guess they never heard of “up a creek without a paddle”. Or sweet tea either, for that matter. The poor deprived souls. We southerners did try to spread some cultural enlightenment to the northerners back in the early 1860’s, but apparently it was to no avail.
At the August meeting I profiled our sister station WX4PTC in Atlanta. The Atlanta / Peachtree City NWS Forecast Office is the backup office for the Birmingham office and vice versa. If Birmingham goes down, severe storm reports would be sent to Peachtree City & they would issue the warnings, as would Birmingham if Atlanta goes down.
What can knock out a WFO? Computer failure, power failure and the backup generator being knocked out or running out of fuel (which has been known to happen) & physical damage to the office, either weather related or mad made – accidental or otherwise.
All Forecast Offices have multiple redundant emergency plans, and it is useful for us to have some familiarity with ours.
Our “Home” of course is the NWS Birmingham
Birmingham’s Emergency Number is 1-800-856-0758
Our NWSChat address is bmxchat
Amatuer Radio Operations are conducted by ALERT at K4NWS
HF Operations are conducted on 3.965 MHz with backup of 7.245 MHz
Our Primary Backup is the NWS Peachtree City (Atlanta)
Peachtree City’s Emergency Number is 1-866-763-4466
The NWSchat address is ffcchat
Amatuer Radio Operations are conducted by Georgia Skywarn at WX4PTC
When activated, HF Operations are conducted on 3.975 MHz
Our Secondary Backup is NWS Huntsville
Huntsville’s Emergency Number is 1-256-890-8503
The NWSchat address is hunchat
Amatuer Radio Operations are conducted by North Alabama Skywarn at WX4HUN
When activated, HF Operations are conducted on 3.965 MHz with backup of 7.245 MHz
Our Tertiary Backup is NWS Little Rock
Little Rock’s Emergency Number is 1-800-482-8471
Little Rock’s NWSchat address is lzkchat
Amatuer Radio Operations are conducted by the Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Net (CAREN) with the W5DI wide coverage system.
When activated, HF Operations are conducted on 3.9875 MHz
It would be a rare occasion if NWS Birmingham went down, but it has happened before, due to computer failure. Peachtree City once went down due to a power failure, both primary and backup.
The Huntsville Office had to take cover once due to a tornado bearing down on the WFO.
How do you know when something is awry? You will know Birmingham has gone down if you see NWS products for Central Alabama being issued by the Peachtree City office, if you dial the emergency line and it is out of order or if K4NWS or ALERT informs you that the BMX is temporarily out of commission.
In that event if you have severe weather reports you should call Peachtree City’s emergency number. Report just as you would with Birmingham, except mention that you are in Alabama, as they may have the same county names.
NWSchats of other WFO’s may be accessed by any Operational Member with NWSchat capability.
Simply go to the buddy list, click “buddies”, then click “join a chat” & on the window that pops up enter the chatroom name, such as ffcchat. Click join a chat & you are there. If you want to permanently add the room you click “conversation” on the chat window & then hit “add”. Yet another window pops up & you can name the chatroom under “alias”. Then hit add & you are done.
I have these already programmed in, as well as the Jackson WFO, so I can get a sneak preview of what is headed our way. I also have the WXSpots program running in the background, but, that’s something we will talk about at a later time.
As for Amateur operations, the chances are very good that their ham group will not be active, just as ALERT usually isn’t active unless the Birmingham CWA is being effected, though K4NWS & WX4PTC have contacted each other in the pasts during tests.
In the unlikely event that Atlanta & Birmingham goes down, then resort to Huntsville. And, in the very remote chance all three offices go down, then Little Rock is your office
To be honest though, if we have a situation where all three WFO’s are dead, this would indicate either the weirdest of bad luck or that a regional disaster has occurred on the scale of Katrina or worse. Which may be why our tertiary backup is in Little Rock, located outside of the Southeastern US.
In a scenario THAT bad, my focus probably would not be on storm spotting, but on remembering and utilizing basic survival skills.
Which is a subject we all should have some knowledge of.
We’ll just hope that a day like that never arises (but, always be prepared).
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
On a lighter note, here is your opportunity to dazzle folk, be a babe magnet & otherwise appear wondermous & weatherwise.
Courtesy of the El Paso office here is your fake Weather Phrase Finder!
http://www.srh.weather.gov/epz/wxcalc/weathertermcalc.shtml
Use it & you also can tell folk that the Cumulative Orographic Equilibrium is effecting your
sinuses. And, 99% of them will have no clue that you have just served a plate of pure bull.
Try it. You’ll like it!
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Mark’s Almanac
September is the ninth month of the year and the seventh month on the Roman calendar, which is where the month gets its name.
Normally temperatures are usually still hot at the beginning of the month, and, by months end, fall is definitely felt. However with our 2009 El Nino, it feels as if fall has already arrived.
Noticeable in September will be the thickening of the cat’s fur, as she begins growing her winter coat & the drift of Yellow Giant Sulphur Butterflies as they migrate towards Florida.
Weather starts shifting from the summer to autumn pattern and back again. Storms resemble the August pattern, but the Bermuda High will starts shifting southward and begin weakening, which will weaken the blocking effect it has had which prevented fronts from invading from the northwest.
September is the peak of the hurricane season, the actual peak being on September 10. This peak coincides with the time of “syzygy”, when the combination of the sun and moon’s gravity and autumnal equinox combine to provide the highest astronomical tides of the year. Add a hurricane’s storm surge on top of this and you can have incredibly destructive flooding.
September Tropical Cyclone Breeding Grounds
Alabama has lost its position as the national tornado champ. The statistics as of September 1 are:
Texas 102
Alabama 100
Kansas 87
Georgia 64
Missouri 63
Fall begins at Autumnal Equinox on September 22, 2009 at 4:18 P.M. CDT.
On this date, if there is sufficient solar activity, and you are away from city lights, the aurora may possibly be seen, as the Equinox dates are the two most favored times of the year for auroral sightings.
September’s Full Moon is “Harvest Moon” in Native American folklore. So called because the moon is larger and seems to rise at almost the same time every night, which allowed harvesting to continue on into the evening.
…………………………………………………………………………………….
This month’s meeting will be on September 8 at 7PM at the National Weather Service
forecast office at the Shelby County Airport
I hope to see you there.
Mark
WD4NYL
President
ALERT
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