Warning Coordination Meteorologist Nick Petro narrates a great NWS
Raleigh 2011- 2012 Winter Weather Outlook
presentation! To
view it, please click here
. You'l learn about central NC winter climatology stats,
basic
winter weather patterns, NOAA's prediction for this winter, seasonal
forecast variables, NWS Raleigh winter weather products and services,
and winter weather safety,
SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY 2011 COMING SOON!
“CQ,
CQ, CQ.This is
WX4NC for
SKYWARN Recognition Day looking for contacts.”That’s the patter you’ll be hearing
on
the radio the first Saturday in
December from the Central Carolina SKYWARN team and other licensed
operators at
the Raleigh National Weather Service!
Developed
in 1999
by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League,
SKYWARN
Recognition Day is designed to celebrate the contributions that SKYWARN
radio operators make to the National Weather Service. During a
24 hour
period, SKYWARN operators visit NWS offices and contact other radio
operators
across the world.
SKYWARN
Recognition Day 2011 officially takes place Saturday, December 3,
0000-2400
UTC. Over 100 National Weather Services offices across the nation,
including
the Raleigh National Weather Service, are expected to participate in
this 13th
annual event.
Central
Carolina
SKYWARN will join in the fun on Friday night (December 2) from 7-10 PM
and
Saturday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, making contacts on the WB4TQD 146.88
repeater, the K4ITL 147.105 repeater, the K4ITL 147.135 repeater, the
Carolina
440 UHF Link System, IRLP (node 9219), and HF (10, 15, 20, 40& 80 meters).
Radio
operators
will exchange names, call signs, locations, signal reports, and a 1 or
2-word weather report. We will be using the call sign WX4NC.
A
QSL card will
be available for this event. Stations logging a contact with WX4NC may
send a
SASE envelope to the following address to receive a QSL card:
National
Weather
Service
Raleigh Forecast Office
1005 Capability Drive, Suite 300
Centennial Campus
Raleigh, North Carolina 27606
An
8.5" x 11"
event certificate can also be obtained by sending a SASE and a list of
the
stations contacted to the following address:
SKYWARN
Recognition Day
920 Armory Road
Goodland, KS 67735
Forecasts issued by the National Weather Service frequently include a
"PoP" (probability of precipitation) statement, which is often
expressed as the "chance of rain" or "chance of precipitation".
Ever wonder what a statement like 40% chance of rain really
means?
Does it mean it will rain 40% of the time? Does it mean 40% of the
forecasted area will see rain? If you want to know the answer per the
National Weather Service, please click here
.
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
.
NATIONAL HURRICANE
PREPAREDNESS WEEK
May 22-28 has been declared National Hurricane Preparedness Week by
Presidential Proclamation. To learn more about your vulnerability to
hurricane hazards and what you can to to mitigate those dangers, please
click here
to visit the National Hurricane Center website.
Raleigh NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist recently shared some
internet sites regarding radar and rainfall totals that might interest
spotters, weather enthusiasts, and CoCoRaHS observers.
Radar derived rainfall amounts in real time ranging from hourly amounts
to accumulations over the last 30 days can be mapped online by going to
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ridge2/RFC_Precip/
.
Real time radar data can be mapped onto an interactive road map by
going to http://radar.srh.noaa.gov/?zoom=3&lat=35.20972&lon=-79.93652&layers=B000TTTTTTT
.
This is a long link, but will automatically take you to a zoom for NC.
You can then zoom in more and once done click on LOCATION PERMALINK at
the top of the page and then bookmark the new zoom in your favorites.
This link will also overlay warnings issued by the NWS.
Lastly, Storm Total Rainfall accumulations cam also be mapped into
Google Earth by going to http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/kmzgenerator.php
and requesting Storm Total Precipitation KMZ file by local
radar or
statewide mosaic. Once in Google Earth the image will auto update as
long as Google Earth is running.
LIVE AUDIO FEED OF CENTRAL
CAROLINA SKYWARN
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.
UPCOMING
PROGRAMS ON CCS INFORMATION NETS
June 28 - Program Topic
April 16th Tornadoes - guest NWS Meteorologist-in-Charge
Darin Figurskey
KC2IPY. To download
the accompanying PowerPoint presentation, please click here
.
July 18 - Radio Check
Night
with CCS EC Virginia Enzor. This will be a test for spotters
to
see how well they can get into two of our back up repeaters - the
147.105 (PL 82.5 Hz) in Broadway and the 147.135 (PL 82.5 Hz) in Chapel
Hill. The net will start out on our primary repeater, the
146.88.
August 23 - "Drought
Update" with Raleigh NWS Hydrologist Mike Moneypenny. To
download
the accompanying PowerPoint presentation, please click here
.
October 4 - Hurricane
Irene Summary;
guest presenter will be NWS Meteorologist-in-Charge Darin Figurskey
KC2IPY. To
download
the accompanying PowerPoint presentation, please click here
.
October 11 - Portable
APRS Weather Stationswith guest presenter NWS Warning Coordination
Meteorologist Nick Petro WX3H. To
download
the accompanying PowerPoint presentation in PDF format, please click here
.
November 15 - NC
Climatology with Raleigh NWS General Forecaster Brandon
Dunstan KI4ZCX. To download the accompanying PowerPoint presentation,
please click here
.
December 13
-
Will it be rain, freezing rain, sleet or snow? Learn more
about the TRENDs
Predominate-P Nomogram
from guest presenter NWS Meteorologist-in-Charge Darin Figurskey
KC2IPY. To download the accompanying PowerPoint
presentation,
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)
Febrary 23 - Basic
Spotter Training, 7:30pm, White Plains United Methodist
Church, 313 SE Maynard Road, Cary, NC (Wake County)
March
8 - Basic Spotter Training, 7-9pm,Cary
Senior Center, 120 Maury O'Dell Place, Cary, NC (Wake County)
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)
SEVERE WEATHER
AWARENESS WEEK 
LIVE AUDIO FEED OF CENTRAL
CAROLINA SKYWARN
NOAA ALL HAZARDS RADIO NOW ON LINE
CoCoRaHS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
