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 Previous: Weather Forces Early Shutdown of Aves Island YV0D DXpedition |  Next: Youth@HamRadio.Fun: Youth in Emergency Communications |
NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 4, 2004--Having already dealt this week with Hurricane Alex, the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) are waiting to see if Tropical Depression Two (TD2) develops into Tropical Storm Bonnie. At present, the NHC describes the weather system as a "poorly organized depression" and has discontinued all watches and warnings. But there's still a chance that TD2 could graduate to a full-blown storm
"The depression has the potential to become a tropical storm during the next 24 hours, if it can maintain a closed wind circulation," the National Hurricane Center said in its 1500 UTC advisory. "However, if the depression continues westward at its present motion, it could dissipate later today." The NHC left open the possibility that it could post a tropical storm watch for the Dominican Republic and Haiti later today.
The Hurricane Watch Net activated on 14.325 MHz for Hurricane Alex at 1300 UTC and secured at 2100 UTC on August 3. "During our eight-hour net, we received numerous reports from the outer banks of North Carolina," says HWN Assistant Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV. "Band conditions were not the best due to fading and atmospheric noise."
One station quite a distance from the excitement, Jim Idelson, K1IR, in Massachusetts, nonetheless was able to help out when a weak station in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, tried to check into the HWN but was not being heard. "I offered to relay," said Idelson, whose well-equipped station sports 20-meter stacked beams. "The station in Cape Hatteras was on emergency power and running a G5RV that was coming down in the winds," he said in a posting to the Yankee Clipper Contest Club reflector. "The theory that a decent contest station/op should be well prepared to provide emergency communications seemed to play out in this particular instance." The North Carolina station also turned out to be a primary source of weather data for the HWN, and Idelson said he spent a couple of hours relaying reports to WX4NHC.
Graves said that given the number of net members throughout the US, Canada, the Caribbean, Honduras and Mexico, the HWN was able to switch net control stations as needed to maintain contact with the affected area in the path of Hurricane Alex.
Assistant Amateur Radio Coordinator Julio Ripoll, WD4R, says several of the surface reports received at WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center were cited in the various hurricane advisories.
 The predicted track of Tropical Depression 2. |
"The hurricane forecasters are always interested in what is actually happening on the ground, as it happens," he notes. "It helps them visualize the storms' effect on people and property as they analyze scientific data."
According to Ripoll, the new VOIPWX Net, which combines IRLP and EchoLink has been a tremendous asset. "This has opened up a whole new resource of stations, VHF/UHF/Mobile/Techs, that we would have not heard of on HF," he said.
The HWN and WX4NHC now are turning their attention to TD2. "After a quiet June and July, it appears that August is the awakening month for the Atlantic Tropical Season," Graves said.
During hurricane emergencies trained HWN members provide
essential communication support to WX4NHC, which disseminates storm updates via
the net. The HWN also collects observed or measured weather data and post-storm
damage reports from Amateur Radio operators in the affected areas and relays
that information to forecasters via WX4NHC.
The ground-level weather data assists NHC forecasters in predicting a storm's
path and behavior.
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