Skywarn Operations at NWS Charleston
What is Skywarn?
SKYWARN is a voluntary program developed by the National Weather Service
to improve the warning program. SKYWARN volunteers serve as storm spotters
for the National Weather Service and local emergency management programs.
Keeping their eyes on the sky, volunteers serve as the eyes and ears for
the whole community. SKYWARN volunteers come from all walks of life but
they all have generally two things in common - an interest in the weather
and an interest in serving their community.
SKYWARN is a loosely knit organization. Training in severe storm identification
comes from the National Weather Service. Often, another organization, such
as emergency management, law enforcement, fire departments or rescue squads,
or amateur radio groups, is the backbone of the SKYWARN effort in a particular
community. If you are interested in becoming a SKYWARN volunteer, your
best bet is to begin with the local emergency management agency in your
county.
The National Weather Service needs real time reports of hail size, wind
damage, flash flooding, heavy rain, and tornado development, in order to
effectively warn the public. Even as new technology allows the National
Weather Service to issue warnings with more lead time, spotters will always
be needed as links between radar indications of severe weather and ground
truth information.
Skywarn Operations on 2 meters
The Skywarn program at NWS Charleston will utilize the vast 2 meter
amateur radio network across southeast South Carolina and adjacent southeast
Georgia to obtain severe weather reports. In the event of severe
weather, and at the discretion of the forecaster-in-charge, a net controller
will be called in to initiate a severe weather net. Although this
will occur primarily with large outbreaks, sometimes reports will be solicited
for smaller, less organized weather events.
In case of severe weather, NWS Charleston will monitor the following repeaters:
South Carolina...146.790 MHz...
Mt. Pleasant (Charleston County)
If this repeater is not available,
the next two backups are:
1) 146.910 MHz...White Hall (Colleton County) and
2) 147.345 MHz...Adam's Run (Charleston County).
Georgia...147.105 MHz...
Pembroke (Bryan County)
If this repeater is not available,
the backup is 146.700 MHz...Savannah (Chatham County)
When a severe weather net is activated, the call
sign for NWS Charleston is: WX4CHS
When calling net control, simply call "Charleston Weather".
You may print off a copy of our severe weather report form by clicking
here.
Lowcountry Skywarn Net
All amateurs are cordially invited to check in to the Lowcountry Skywarn Net
every Tuesday night at 9 pm on the CARS linked repeater system: 146.790- in Mt.
Pleasant, 145.250- in Summerville, 145.410- on Seabrook Island and 147.045-
(103.5 tone) in St. George. The net is sponsored by the National Weather Service
in Charleston. The purpose is to practice calling a Skywarn net and to encourage
hams to relay weather information to the National Weather Service in Charleston
if a net is activated. If severe weather is occurring or imminent at the weekly
net time, the net will be cancelled for that week. You do not have to be a
trained weather spotter to participate. You'll be asked your name, callsign, spotter
number (if you have one), location, and a brief description of current weather
conditions at your location. A short training topic relating to severe weather or
amateur radio operations will be covered. We look forward to hearing from you!
What kind of severe weather reports are we looking
for?
Specifically:
1. Tornadoes, waterspouts, funnel clouds or rotating wall clouds.
2. Hail. ANY size.
3. Estimated or measured wind speeds of 50 mph or greater.
4. Flooding.
5. Rainfall amounts greater than 1 inch per hour.
6. Damage by wind or lightning.
7. Downed trees and/or power lines.
When reporting any of these events, it's very important to tell us WHEN
and WHERE they occurred. If it's a second or third
hand report, please give us the source of the original report, along with
all the applicable information in 1-7 above.
Severe Weather Net Procedures
The success of a severe weather net depends on everyone using discretion
with their microphones. Please do NOT transmit
unless it is absolutely necessary. Ragchewing, little side comments
and personal transmissions are not to be made. Please do NOT
transmit to report general weather information, for example, "it's raining
hard", "I see lots of lightning off to the west", "the clouds are getting
darker", "it's thundering", etc. Traffic of this nature is of no
real use to the net. It only ties up the repeater and may prevent
someone with severe weather to report from getting through. Think
before you transmit! Just listening and calling when you have severe
weather to report is the best help you can provide a severe weather net.
It is not the intent of the net to provide the latest conditions and forecasts.
The
net is set up to receive reports, not give them. Please remember
that in order for the net to be successful in its true purpose.
Useful Information
Hail Size Comparisons:
0.25 inch...............Pea size
0.75 inch...............Penny
0.88 inch...............Nickel
1.00 inch...............Quarter
1.25 inches..........Half dollar
1.50 inches..........Ping pong ball or Walnut
1.75 inches..........Golfball
2.00 inches..........Hen's egg
2.50 inches..........Tennis ball
2.75 inches..........Baseball
3.00 inches..........Teacup
4.00 inches..........Grapefruit
4.50 inches..........Softball
Please
do not use the term "marble size" as it leads to confusion,
because marbles come in different sizes.
If hail is smaller than dime size, simply report it that way.
Estimating Wind Speed:
25-31 mph..............Large branches in motion; whistling heard in telephone
wires and power lines.
32-38 mph..............Whole trees in motion; inconvenience felt walking
in the wind.
39-55 mph..............Twigs break off trees; wind generally impedes progress.
***Severe Category***
56-72 mph..............Damage to chimneys and TV antennas; pushes over
shallow-rooted trees.
73-112 mph............Peels surface off roofs; windows broken; mobile homes
pushed or overturned; moving cars pushed off roads.
113-157 mph..........Roofs torn off; weak buildings and mobile homes destroyed;
large trees snapped and uprooted.
157+ mph...............Severe damage; cars lifted off the ground.
The Spotter Briefing Room
Current Doppler Radar Imagery
(Click on your "refresh" button periodically to keep
seeing the latest data - always check the date/time on the image!)
Latest Warnings
(Issued by local NWS offices)
Convective Outlooks
(Issued by the Storm Prediction Center, Norman OK)
Current Severe Thunderstorm/Tornado Watches in Effect
(Issued by the Storm Prediction Center, Norman OK)
Current Severe Weather Reports - Nationwide
(From the Storm Prediction Center, Norman OK)
Latest Local Weather Observations
South Carolina Forecasts by County
(Issued by NWS Charleston)
Georgia Forecasts by County
(Issued by NWS Charleston)
Surface Weather Maps
(Issued by the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center, Camp Springs MD)
Precipitation Forecasts
(Issued by the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center, Camp Springs MD)
Latest Tropical Weather
(From the National Hurricane Center, Miami FL)
Satellite Images
(From the National Environmental Satellite Data Service)
Long Range Threats Assessments
(Issued by the Climate Prediction Center, Camp Springs MD)
Cool Links!
Skywarn Recognition Day - Begun
in 1999, an annual event sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL)
and the National Weather Service.
National Weather Service booklets,
brochures and pamphlets are available online, including ones on storm
spotting. Many are in full color!
You will need the Adobe Acrobat
Reader to view PDF files.
The National Weather Service office in Norman, OK has an excellent
Skywarn/spotter page on their website. Some of the topics covered are:
Getting
Started in Tornado and Thunderstorm Spotting
Storm
Spotter Guide
Glossary
of Weather Terms for Spotters
Severe
Weather Safety Guide
An interactive map of all NWS offices throughout all 50 states, Puerto
Rico and Guam can be found by clicking here
.
www.nws.noaa.gov 
