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![Previous (earlier) Story](/images/sty-down.gif "ARRL Debuts New "Digital Electronics" Course"){kind=small} Previous: ARRL Debuts New "Digital Electronics" Course |  Next: Regulation by Bandwidth Proposals, Strategic Planning Top ARRL Board Agenda |
 The projected course of Hurricane Dennis as of 1500 UTC July 7. [NOAA Graphic] |
NEWINGTON, CT, July 7, 2005--The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) on 14.325 MHz has activated as Hurricane Dennis continues working its way toward the US. Now a Category 2 storm with winds of 105 MPH with higher gusts, Dennis is expected to increase in strength before reaching landfall in Cuba, probably on Friday, July 8. Once it passes over Cuba, Dennis appears destined to come ashore along the US Gulf Coast. If it maintains its current course, the storm could affect Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
"During our [July 7] net activation, Dennis should be skirting the northeast coast of Jamaica, the southeast coast of Cuba, and the Cayman Islands," said HWN Assistant Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, who lives in Mississippi--one of the states Dennis now has in his sights. "During our activation on Friday, Dennis should be passing the Isle of Youth and then make landfall somewhere along the southwest coast of Cuba."
HWN participants will gather measured and observed ground-level storm data from the affected area. Working hand in hand with the volunteer-staffed WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, the net relays important information on a storm's behavior to forecasters.
As of 1500 UTC, a hurricane watch was in effect for the Florida Keys and Florida Bay, and a tropical storm watch was in effect for southern Florida, from Golden beach southward on the east coast and south of Bonita Beach on the west coast.
The government of Cuba has extended hurricane watches and warnings westward, and a hurricane warning is now in effect for the provinces of Matanzas, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus, Ciego de Avila, Camaguey, Las Tunas, Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo. A hurricane watch is now in effect for the remaining provinces of Cuba including the Isle of Youth, Piñar del Rio, La Habana, Ciudad de la Habana and Holguin.
A hurricane warning is in effect for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti from the Dominican Republic border westward, all of Jamaica and all of the Caymans.
As of 1500 UTC, the storm's center was some 80 miles east of Kingston, Jamaica, and some 155 miles south of Guantanamo. Dennis is moving toward the northwest at nearly 13 MPH, and the National Hurricane Center says this general motion is expected to continue for the next 24 hours.
Dennis is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 5 to 10 inches over southern Hispaniola, Jamaica, Cuba and the Caymans, with isolated amounts of 15 inches over the mountainous terrain of Jamaica. The NHC says these rains could produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.
Storm surge flooding of 5 to 7 feet above normal tide levels--and perhaps twice as high along parts of Cuba's southern coast--and large and dangerous battering waves are likely in areas of onshore winds near the storm's center.
Graves says the HWN also will remain available to backup conventional lines of communication as needed. "Throughout this event, we remind everyone that we are also available to provide backup communication facilities to official agencies such as emergency operations centers and Red Cross officials in the affected area," he said in his activation announcement. "We will also collect and report significant damage assessment data back to FEMA officials stationed in the National Hurricane Center."
The HWN asks stations to not check into the net unless specifically requested to do so. "We will attempt to handle all communications within the capabilities of our own members and only when required assistance is needed will we ask for your help," he emphasized. He also pointed out that, while the net's mission is to provide weather-related information into and out of the storm area, the HWN does not handle health-and-welfare traffic.
"That traffic will be handled by the SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network) net on 14.265 MHz, whenever activated, as well as via their Web site." The SATERN Web page includes a link for health-and-welfare inquiries.
Graves said the HWN may announce other frequencies set up by local emergency nets in affected areas. "Please monitor 14.325.00 MHz for that information as it is made available," he advised. He also said the net would announce storm-related advisories and updates as they become available from the National Hurricane Center.
The HWN Web site
includes regularly updated forecasts and weather graphics.
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