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 Previous: ARRL 90th Anniversary Offer Accompanies Debut of 2005 ARRL Handbook |  Next: ARES Emergency Nets Ready as Florida Braces for Bonnie and Charley |
 The projected track of Hurricane Charley. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 11, 2004--The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) activated on 14.325 MHz at 1800 UTC to track the fast-moving Hurricane Charley. Forecasters and emergency management officials also are keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Bonnie--now in the Gulf of Mexico--which threatens the Florida Panhandle and northwestern Florida. Hurricane Charley--now a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 75 MPH with higher gusts--is forecast to brush by the western edge of Jamaica later today.
"We plan to be quite active perhaps through the weekend as Charley has now been declared a Category 1," said HWN Manager Mike Pilgrim, K5MP. The HWN also requested the Maritime Mobile Service Net to relay information of the activation to affected areas and to notify potential reporting stations in the storm's path to stay tuned to the HWN.
Pilgrim requested that all other stations eager to assist remain silent on the sidelines until requested to transmit. The net already has gathered ground-level weather data from at least one amateur station in Jamaica for relay to WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami. The net was seeking stations in Cuba to check into the net.
WX4NHC activated operations today at 1800 UTC in concert with the HWN. Amateur Radio Coordinator John McHugh, K4AG, said the operation was expected to continue through August 13, as the Charley approaches US.
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 via Amateur Radio in the affected areas and relays that information to forecasters via WX4NHC, which also gathers similar data via the Internet from non-Amateur Radio sources. The ground-level weather data assists NHC forecasters in predicting a storm's path and behavior.
 The projected track of Tropical Storm Bonnie. |
ARRL Southern Florida Assistant Section Manager Evelyn Gauzens, W4WYR, said the Key West Emergency Operations Center (EOC) already has opened, and the Miami-Dade EOC plans to activate August 12 at 0930 UTC. According to Gauzens, authorities in the Florida Keys are asking tourists there to voluntarily evacuate. "All the Amateur Radio Emergency Service teams are in place and standing by to do their jobs," she said. "We're expecting winds and a lot of rain."
Gauzens worried that Charley and Bonnie could end up affecting opposite ends of Florida at the same time.
The American Red Cross is expected to open five special-needs shelters in the Miami area. The Salvation Army has announced it's preparing for both Bonnie and Charlie with a three-front disaster response in Florida. "All 43 Disaster Emergency Response Teams from Pensacola to Jacksonville to Key West have been placed on standby for immediate response upon the impact of the storms," said Kevin Smith, the Salvation Army's Florida director of emergency disaster services.
The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) announced this afternoon that it will activate the emergency network on 14.265 MHz when needed to assist in providing emergency communication into the affected area as well as health-and-welfare inquiries. Prior to a storm's landfall, SATERN has traditionally asked its members monitor the HWN.
As of 1800 UTC, the NHC had posted a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch for Jamaica in advance of Hurricane Charlie. A hurricane warning remains in effect for the Cayman Islands, and a hurricane watch is in effect for parts of western Cuba as well as the Florida Keys from Dry Tortugas to Craig Key.
"Additional watches will likely be required for portions of the Florida Peninsula later today," the NHC said. The Center cited Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft reports indicating that Charley had attained hurricane strength.
As of 1800 UTC, Charley's center was some 90 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica, moving to the west-northwest at almost 18 MPH. A gradual turn to the northwest was expected over the next 24 hours or so. Bands of squalls with tropical-storm force winds are likely to affect much of Jamaica today and tonight, the NHC said, and forecasters anticipate further strengthening of the storm. Tropical-storm force winds extend up to 115 miles from the storm's center.
Above-normal tides accompanied by large and dangerous
battering waves are likely along the Jamaican coast today and the Cayman Islands tonight. Rainfall totals of up to 6 inches are likely in association with
Hurricane Charley.
| Previous: ARRL 90th Anniversary Offer Accompanies Debut of 2005 ARRL Handbook | Next: ARES Emergency Nets Ready as Florida Braces for Bonnie and Charley |
