SKYWARN

WHAT IS SKYWARN?

SKYWARN is a concept developed in the early 1970s that was intended to promote a cooperative effort between the National Weather Service and communities. The emphasis of the effort is often focused on the storm spotter, an individual who takes a position near their community and reports wind gusts, hail size, rainfall, and cloud formations that could signal a developing tornado. Another part of SKYWARN is the receipt and effective distribution of National Weather Service information.

SKYWARN is not a club or organization, however, in some areas where Emergency Management programs do not perform the function, people have organized SKYWARN groups that work independent of a parent government agency and feed valuable information to the National Weather Service. While this provides the radar meteorologist with much needed input, the circuit is not complete if the information does not reach those who can activate sirens or local broadcast systems.

SKYWARN spotters are not by definition "Storm Chasers". While their functions and methods are similar, the spotter stays close to home and usually has ties to a local agency. Storm chasers often cover hundreds of miles a day. The term Storm Chaser covers a wide variety of people. Some are meteorologists doing specific research or are gathering basic information (like video) for training and comparison to radar data. Others chase storms to provide live information for the media, and others simply do it for the thrill.

Storm Spotting and Storm Chasing is dangerous and should not be done without proper training, experience and equipment.

The National Weather Service conducts spotter training classes across the United States, and your local National Weather Service office should be consulted as to when the next class will be held.

SKYWARN IN BALDWIN COUNTY

Baldwin County area Amateurs have organized to form the Baldwin County Amateur Radio Emergency Services to provide emergency communications during times when other means of communications have been disrupted due to severe weather, flooding, hurricanes and other disasters. The Baldwin County Amateur Radio Emergency Services Skywarn Net is activated on the Milledgeville ARC repeater, 146.70 (pl 67hz) as necessary to report locally severe conditions. This information is reported to the National Weather Service Office in Peachtree City, GA via Amateur Radio or telephone. These observations are then made available to the general public through local TV and radio stations in addition to being broadcast on NOAA Weather Radio on 162.4, 162.425, 162.45, 162.475, 162.5, 162.525 and 162.55 megahertz. Even with all of the technology available, the best weather instrument is the human eye.

Contact us for more on how you can become an amateur radio operator and a weather spotter.