Good evening!

For those of you that may not know me, I am John De Block, the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at NWS Birmingham.  Many of you are on this list as a result of attending a SKYWARN Storm Spotter Training class in the last year, given by one of our outstanding staff here at the office.

During our Storm Spotter Training classes, you may or may not have heard about the relationship the NWS has with amateur radio operators.  Back in the day before the advent of cellphones, personal devices, and the internet, the only way for a storm spotter in a remote or distant location to communicate in near real time with the NWS by radio.  The connection between storm spotting and amateur radio was born out of necessity, yet it continues to this day.  Of course since that time, we have added all those modern communications tools to the arsenal of the SKYWARN Storm Spotter, and have actually mixed the “old” with the “new” in amateur radio itself, with digital radios, and amateur radio over the internet, from satellite…it’s truly amazing.

Regardless of HOW a SKYWARN trained Storm Spotter chooses to communicate with the NWS, storm spotters remain the eyes and ears, the “boots on the ground” near a distant storm that can relate information to the NWS warning forecasters that isn’t available from any other source.  To show our appreciation for all of you who relay that critical information to the NWS, we created “SKYWARN Recognition Day” (SRD) in 1999, and is observed annually on the first Saturday (Zulu or UTC time, otherwise known as Greenwich Mean Time).  In Alabama, that runs from 6PM Friday through 6PM Saturday.

In the past, the primary way that SRD was observed was by hosting local Amateur Radio operating groups at the local NWS office, and trying to make contact with as many other  participating Amateur Radio operators as possible during that 24 hour timeframe.  Of course and unfortunately, 2020 has caused us to have to retool and come up with new ways to observe SRD.  Amateur Radio operators will still conduct their operations, but it will be from remote locations away from the NWS office.  But 2020 also inspired us to offer a new twist on SRD, and that is the involvement of other SKYWARN Storm Spotters through social media and other means.

You can find out all the information you need about the nationally scheduled activities on SRD 2020 (#skywarn20), at the SRD Webpage, https://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition, and/or at the SRD Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/skywarnrecognitionday (you will have to request to join the private group).  There are a number of Facebook Live events scheduled for the 24 hour period, including topics such as a tour of the storm prediction center, and the weather year in review.

In addition to those nationally run events, NWS Birmingham will be offering 3 live events for you to participate in!

Friday, 7-7:30PM – Google Meet from the NWS office, The Importance of SKYWARN Storm Spotters and Introduction to Amateur Radio Storm Spotting Operations

Saturday Morning (approx) 5:30AM – 6:10AM – @NWSBirmingham Facebook Live balloon launch

Saturday Morning 7-7:30AM – Google Meet from NWS Birmingham – SRD2020 Coffee at NWS Skywarn Storm Spotter Open Forum

Here is the link for the Google Meet sessions we will be hosting:  https://meet.google.com/kfz-tizn-xjd

I know this is short notice, but as with all of 2020, we’re more or less trying to make do on a day to day basis as best we can.  We hope you have the opportunity to participate in some way with SRD 2020, and would love to “see” you in one of our Google Meets that we are offering, and hope you can watch our live balloon launch.

And…let me be the first to say THANK YOU to all our SKYWARN Storm Spotters! 

John