When Central Carolina SKYWARN activates, spotters and weather
enthusiasts can now listen to transmissions on the WB4TQD
146.88 repeater via the internet by visiting
www.radioreference.com or by clicking here
. Folks can also listen to the Central Carolina
Information
Net each Tuesday evening at 9:15pm. In the
absence of an activation, the WB4TQD repeater is an open talk repeater
serving central North Carolina.
GRAPHICAL TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
This
National Hurricane Center
product
allows the viewer to quickly see any areas in the Atlantic or Gulf of
Mexico that NHC is watching for possible development. This
product updates at approximately 2AM, 8AM, 2PM and 8PM
daily. For more
information, please visit Atlantic
Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook
.
LIGHTNING SAFETY AWARENESS WEEK
June 20-26 is National Lightning Safety Week. Thus far
this year in NC, we
have seen two fatalities, a few injuries in central NC, a
large tank fire in Greensboro, a church burned down in Wilson, a boat
destroyed on Jordan Lake and numerous housefires, all from lightning.
The National Weather Service has an outstanding Lightning Safety
website at
www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/
which provides information ranging from the science of lightning
strikes, survivor stories, and medical facts, to safety tips and risk
reduction. Please take a
moment to visit it!
To test your lightning safety IQ, click here
to play the Leo the
Lion's Lightning Safety Game!
HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS WEEK 2010
Hurricane Preparedness Week is May 23-29, 2010; the week is designed to
make the public aware of hurricane hazards and the actions to take
to reduce danger to life and property. Hurricane hazards come in the
forms of storm surge, high winds, tornadoes and flooding. Do you have a
plan that addresses all the hazards relevant to your locale?
The
National Hurricane Center has prepared topic for each day this week to
help you get ready.
Thanks to all storm spotters who participated in the recent April 25th
severe weather event which struck Wake, Franklin, and Nash Counties. An
EF-0 tornado struck eastern Wake County and southern Franklin County
while straight line winds caused damage near Spring Hope in Nash
County.
To view the NWS storm survey complete with damage photos, please click here.
Excellent
spotter reports were received!
Spotter Jose Guzman KD4JWF tracked the tornadic storm and snapped
the photo displayed at left. Central Carolina SKYWARN welcomes
your
photos.
Please submit to CCS Emergency
Coordinator Virginia Enzor at nc4va@nc.rr.com;
don't forget to include a brief description, the location of the event,
the date and time of the event, and the name of the
photographer.
CCS OFFERS BASIC SPOTTER TRAINING VIA THE TUESDAY NIGHT NET MARCH 23
& 30
The
National
Weather Service recommends that spotters refresh their spotter training
at least once every 3 years. To that end, Basic Spotter Training will
be offered on the CCS Information Net on March 23 & 30 at 9:15
PM on the 146.88 repeater. Part 1 of Basic Training will be March 23;
Part 2, March 30. The instructor will be Jeff Orrock, KI4KKX, Warning
Coordination Meteorologist with the Raleigh National Weather Service.
To fully benefit from this training and to receive a spotter
certificate you must:
A. have PowerPoint or a PowerPoint viewer or use the pdf file of
SKYWARN Basic Spotter Training,
B. listen and check in at the end of both nets, and
C. email CCS Emergency Coordinator Virginia Enzor at nc4va@nc.rr.com
with your name, call sign, residential address, current mailing address
and phone number for inclusion in the NWS database.
PowerPoints Part 1 (March 23) and Part 2
(March 30) can be found at http://www.erh.noaa.gov/rah/skywarn/.
Under "Training Sessions", click on Parts 1 & 2 Basic SKYWARN
Spotter
Training. Should you need a PowerPoint viewer, one
is
available at PowerPoint
Viewer. A
PDF version is available at the same website if you prefer.
Scanner listeners may also participate by downloading the powerpoint
or pdf version of the training, and emailing Virginia Enzor at nc4va@nc.rr.comimmediately
after both presentations. Be sure to include your name, residential
address, current mailing address and phone number.
SPRING 2010 ISSUE OF
CHANGING SKIES NEWSLETTER NOW AVAILABLE
Changing Skies is a newsletter published three times a year by the
Raleigh National Weather Service. The newsletter, which covers items of
interest to emergency managers, weather spotters, and other partners,
can be accessed by clicking here.
SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK 2010
Governor Bev Perdue in conjunction with the National Weather Service
and Department of Crime Control and Public Safety has
declared the week of February 28 - March 6 as severe weather awareness
week for 2010. All
week long the National Weather Service will be issuing informative
messages to help folks prepare for severe weather. With the
increasing threat of severe weather
in Spring,
please take time now to read the daily safety statements. If you have
not purchased a NOAA weather radio, now is a good time to do so!
The
statewide tornado drill will be Friday, March 5, at 9:30am.
NWS NOW ON FACEBOOK
The NWS Facebook page will bring people together to share weather,
water, and climate safety messages, stories, photos, and videos. Wall
posts will primarily cover:
Relevant
NWS news stories (e.g., post-event recaps and photos)
Severe
weather education (personal anecdotes on surviving an event,
public service messages/campaigns and announcements)
Weather
facts
NWS
employees and their work
Multimedia
material
If you
have a personal Facebook account, you can
“fan” the NWS page. You don’t need a
Facebook account to view the page. Visit the national Facebook page of
the NWS by clicking here.
NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE CHANGES SEVERE WEATHER CRITERIA
Effective January 5, 2010 nationwide, the minimum size hail criterion
for severe thunderstorms changes from 3/4" (penny-size) to 1 inch
(quarter-size).
For more information, please visit www.weather.gov/oneinchhail.
UPCOMING
PROGRAMS ON CCS INFORMATION NETS
May 4 - "A Look at Recent
Tornadoes in Davidson, Guilford, Person and Wake Counties" with
NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist Jeff Orrock KI4KKX. To download
the accompanying PowerPoint presentation, please click here
. Should you need a PowerPoint viewer, one is available at PowerPoint
Viewer.
May 25 - "NOAA Atlantic
Hurricane Season Outlook" with Darin Figurskey KC2IPY,
Meteorologist-in-Charge of the Raleigh NWS. To download
the accompanying PowerPoint presentation, please click here.
Should you need
a PowerPoint viewer, one is available at PowerPoint
Viewer.
August 17 - "Preparing
for
Inland Dangers of Tropical Systems" with Gary Stephenson,
Chief Meteorologist at News 14.
August 24 - "What's Up
with the Heat?"
with Darin Firgurskey KC2IPY, Meteorologist-in-Charge of the Raleigh
NWS. To download
the accompanying PowerPoint presentation, please click here
. Should you need a PowerPoint viewer, one is available at PowerPoint
Viewer.
August 31 -
"Communicating Forecast Uncertainty" will be
replaced by "Latest Update on Hurricane Earl" with Warning Coordination
Meteorologist Jeff Orrock KI4KKX. Please download the accompanying powerpoint, please click here.
Please
join us
each Tuesday at 9:15PM on the 146.88 repeater for the CCS
Information Net. On each net there are announcements, check-ins by
county, and often a program or training spot. If there is a program
topic you would like to suggest for consideration, please send an email
to CCS EC Virginia Enzor at nc4va@nc.rr.com.
UPCOMING
EVENTS(All
Open to the Public)
September
8 - Basic
SKYWARN Spotter Training, 7-9pm, Drewry Fire Department,
125 Firefighter Drive, Drewry, NC (Vance Co).
September 13 -Basic SKYWARN Spotter
Training and NC Hurricanes, 7-9pm, South Wake Amateur
Radio Club, Fuquay-Varina Presbyterian Church, 307 N. Ennis Street,
Fuquay-Varina (Wake County).
September 30 - Basic SKYWARN Spotter Training,
7-9pm, Cary WakeMed Conference Center, 1900 Kildaire Farm Road, Cary
NC. Pre-registration is required. To pre-register, email
Jeff Orrock at jeff.orrock@noaa.gov .
WINTER
WEATHER
PREPAREDNESS WEEK
November 29-December 5, 2009, has been declared Winter Weather
Preparedness Week in North Carolina. Each day this week the National
Weather Service will be issuing informative messages to help folks
prepare for winter weather! Please click on the links below for
information that will keep you informed and safe!
To hear an excellent winter weather seminar
designed and narrated by
NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist Jeff Orrock, click here
NOTE
OF THANKS FROM THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE REGARDING RAINFALL REPORTS
FROM IDA
I just wanted to send out a real thanks to all the spotters and
CoCoRaHs reporters who sent or called in their rainfall totals. We
received A LOT of excellent rainfall reports.... Everyone did a top
notch job and we used
these reports to correct radar data and make decisions on flood
warnings as well as river forecasts. Not enough can be said for great
reports. --- Jeff Orrock, Warning
Coordination Meteorologist, Raleigh National Weather Service.
NWS HAZARDS ASSESSMENT
SPOTTER PHOTOS OF SEVERE
WEATHER
Central Carolina SKYWARN welcomes your photos of severe weather and
damage taken
in any CCS county (Chatham, Durham, Edgecombe, Franklin,
Granville, Halifax, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Nash,
Person,
Orange, Sampson, Vance, Wake, Wayne, Warren, Wilson). Please
email photos to Emergency
Coordinator Virginia Enzor at nc4va@nc.rr.com;
don't forget to include a brief description, the location of the event,
the date and time of the event, and the name of the
photographer. Your photo may be posted to
the SKYWARN website, featured in a newsletter, or used in a PowerPoint
training presentation. Credit will be given to the photographer. The
photo below
was taken by spotter Rob Rousseau KI4BKE of Holly Springs on May 20,
2008 at about 5:20PM; the location was Rouse Road and Oliver Creek
Parkway. It depicts the range in size of hail that fell at
his
location;
he wisely included coins for size comparison.
CoCoRaHS is a new program for voluneteer weather observers
that began September 1 in North Carolina. Participants
measure precipitation daily and enter their reports online.
Users of the data include the National Weather Service,
hydrologists, emergency managers, city utilities (water supply, water
conservation, storm water), insurance adjusters, USDA, engineers,
teachers, and more. Training is availiable online at the
CoCoRaHS website. To learn more, please visit www.cocorahs.org
NEW CLOUD CHART AVAILABLE
NOAA has released a new cloud chart; to access it, please click here
.
READER'S CHOICE LIST OF WEATHER
BOOKS BY NWS LEAD FORECASTER ROD GONSKI
Summary of Recommendations from July 10, 2007 CCS Net
1.The Audubon Society
Field Guide to North American Weather by David McWilliams
Ludlum, National Audubon Society (Rod describes this publication as a
"must-have" reference book!)
2. Isaac's
Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
by Erik Larson; non-fiction
3. Storm
Watchers: The Turbulent History of Prediction from Franklin's Kite to
El Nino by John D. Cox of MIT
4. North
Carolina's Hurricane History by Jay Barnes - This
publication provides perspective from the Colonial Era through modern
times.
5. How the
Weather Works: 100 Ways Parents and Kids
Can
Share the Secrets of the Atmosphere by Michael Allaby,
Reader's Digest
6. The Handy
Weather Answer Book by Walter A. Lyons (Good reference and
trivia book)
7. Hands-on
Meteorology: Stories, Theories, and Simple Experiments by
Zbigniew Sorbjan
8. North
Carolina Weather and Climate by Peter J. Robinson
9. The Ship
and the Storm: Hurricane Mitch and the Loss of the Fantome
by Jim Carrier; non-fiction
10. Tornado:
Nature's Ultimate Windstorm by Thomas P. Grazulis
11. The Children's
Blizzard by David Laskin; non-fiction
Click here
for information about NWS Skywarn training.
Weather Maps
& Raleigh
NWS WeatherCam
Skywarn Net
Frequencies146.88
MHz (Main) 147.105 MHz
[82.5
Hz] (Backup)
147.135 MHz [82.5] (Second Backup) 145.390
MHz
[82.5
Hz] (Third Backup) Carolina 440
UHF Link
System (Fourth Backup)
LIVE AUDIO FEED OF CENTRAL
CAROLINA SKYWARN
LIGHTNING SAFETY AWARENESS WEEK
NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE CHANGES SEVERE WEATHER CRITERIA
WINTER
WEATHER
PREPAREDNESS WEEK
NOAA ALL HAZARDS RADIO NOW ON LINE
CoCoRaHS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
