I hope this finds you doing well & that you have been enjoying these sunny mid-spring days.

Our May ALERT meeting will feature the presentation of nominees for our upcoming elections. The election normally takes place the meeting after the presentation & the officers then assume their positions at the July meeting.

July is also when ALERT dues are due. Remember, if you want to respond to ALERT callouts or serve as an officer you MUST be current with your dues.

So put the teeth in, comb that one remaining hair and head to the NWS Forecast Office May the 14th at 7PM.

I hope to see you at the meeting!

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The 5 Main Ways To Push Up Daisies In A Disaster Part 3

Before we continue with our series, I want to thank those who have sent me feedback, all of which has been positive.

One item covered was fire sustainers, such as Vaseline soaked cotton balls or a candle, to preserve an nascent flame long enough to add fuel to build a workable fire.

One intriguing idea which Teresa shared is to use a “trick relighting birthday” candle as a fire sustainer. This is an idea which I have never seen in any book or video. It makes perfect sense that if you can’t keep the candle extinguished even with you blowing a gale, a true gale won’t kill the flame either. The wicks of these candles are coated with magnesium and when blown out, the remaining heat is sufficient to reignite the magnesium on the wick and in turn ignite the vapor from the melting wax. It’s true, I have to admit it, I married a genius.

Before proceeding, I will repeat the disclaimer that these articles are intended solely to pique your interest so that you will study the subject further, and that neither I, claiming no expertise in the subject nor ALERT nor the NWS will be held responsible for consequences of actions tried or not tried based on the information discussed in these articles.

With that said, so that now you won’t sue the drawers off of me, we now proceed with part 3 of our series.

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How to Meet the Reaper #3

Let’s talk about water. In America water is a resource which we totally take for granted. We expect it to come gushing forth from faucets, to wash our cares away during the morning “Royal Flush”, and to water our Gardens of Eden with lawn sprinklers. But, this, as with all modern conveniences is dependent on a deceivingly fragile infrastructure, which can be interrupted or compromised in an increasingly wide variety of ways.

An EF5 tornado can literally pull the pipes out of the ground, cutting off the water supply.

Power outages can kill the pumps that force the water through the pipes, resulting in a dry faucet.

Floodwaters can overwhelm and contaminate the water supply and aquifer making it unsafe to drink.

An accident involving a train or an 18 wheeler can cause a chemical spill contaminating the water supply.

Less dramatically, some poor Bubba having a bad day with a backhoe can cut the water main leaving entire communities without water.

This brings us to the third leading way of “Getting planted in Boot Hill” – Dehydration.

Whatever the reason for the lack of water may be, the result is the same and the consequences can be the same. With some time variation dependent upon the temperature and the humidity, the human body will begin dying after 3 days without water. This includes your mental functions being compromised as well as your bodily functions as organs begin to shut down, since your blood is losing its normal liquid nature and beginning to thicken like ketchup. This of course causes an added strain on your heart as it struggles to force the thickening blood through the body.

The human body requires one gallon of water per day to replenish the liquid lost through sweat, urine, transpiration through the skin and respiration. Whether you are properly hydrated or not can be determined by your urine output. If your urine is clear and there is a lot of it, you are properly hydrated, if this is not the case – it’s dark or there is none being produced. You are in serious danger. Thirst is NOT an accurate indicator of hydration. If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated.

Now that we’ve laid the groundwork we come to a subject, which we will call “Emergency Water Management”.

Emergency Water Management consists of six steps:

1. Pre-emergency water storage
2. Resource location
3. Procurement
4. Filtration
5. Purification or Sanitization
6. Consumption and Storage

Pre-emergency water storage can be as simple a process as buying a couple of large cases of bottled water and keeping it in a closet. You can gradually drink it and replenish it to keep the supply fresh. This method has the added benefit that no one will think you are being weird, just “health conscious”. If you have to use this supply in an emergency, don’t throw the bottles away. You will find out why later.

To carry this step further, you can store water in larger containers; some commonly available containers hold 7 gallons each. Rotate the supply once a year.

Three gallons is a three-day supply for one person. 21 gallons a 21 day supply. Three 7-gallon containers will last 1 person three weeks. For more than one person, just multiply the total by the number of persons.

At this stage we must consider an often overlooked point – the weight of water.

One 16.9oz plastic bottle of water weighs roughly 1lb. A case of 24 bottles therefore will weigh 24lbs. One gallon of water weighs 8lbs. So a full 7 gallon container will weigh 56lbs.

The point being, that IF as one gentleman on a forum once sarcastically remarked “I would just walk to the Red Cross and get some water”, instead of storing any, you might better to take your daughters pink Hello Kitty wagon with you to haul it back. Because, it’s heavy and if you are like me and usually end up hyperventilating just travelling from the sofa to the “chapel”, you will never make it back.

I’m slightly exaggerating of course, as I am a prime specimen of He-man vigor and vitality.

If one knows in advance that the water supply could be compromised they could quickly fill up every container they can get their hands on, including pots, pans, sinks and bathtubs. However, realistically speaking, except for coastal locations expecting a tropical system, this is seldom a practical option, due to the lack of lead time.

One final item before we move on is taste. Stored water may not necessarily taste like bottled water or tap water. The water may have a chlorine taste or acquire the taste of what was previously stored in the container. Orange juice, for instance. The water is still good water.

Likewise, if you obtain, filter and purify water from a “natural source”, it may still retain some or much of its original taste. If you got the water from a frog pond, it may still taste like frog pond water, even though it is perfectly safe to drink.

The taste can be “disguised” by using it with coffee, tea or mixing it with flavor packets, such as Hi-C, Crystal Lite, PowerAde, etc. Even a pinch of salt will help.

Resource location is simply finding potential sources of water for use if your primary supply is lost.

Unless contaminated by flood waters or other outside pollutants, one source is your “hidden residential supplies”. This includes water stored in the water heater, water in the commode tank, which is clean, despite what you may initially think, and water in the houses water pipes., which may be obtained by placing a container under the lowest spigot, and then opening first the highest and then lowest valves.

Do you have a swimming pool? You can view your pool as “backup” water. Keep it treated, for you never know when this water will be needed. Maintenance of the free chlorine residual will prevent establishment of any microorganisms. Maintenance levels should be kept to 3-5ppm free chlorine. To monitor this, you’ll need a supply of chlorine testers. The problem with using swimming pools is that organics can enter through dirt, sweat, body oils and the inevitable “Mommy Look!” kiddie tinkles. This can form chloramines which are not good to drink.

Also, imagine going in and out of your drinking water a hundred times and then drinking it. Plus after a disaster every imaginable type of debris, including formerly living creatures could be floating in your pool. The water will have to be filtered and purified before it can be safely used. Fortunately neither process is as involved as it sounds, as we will discuss later.

Next we look for outside sources. The most obvious of which is rainwater. With rainwater you would think it would be pure and readily safe to drink. However this is not the case. We live in an urban area and as the rain falls it collects smoke, chemicals and other particles from the atmosphere. These need to be filtered out. Also once the rain hits an object whether a roof or in a puddle, then it can be biologically contaminated and must be purified.

Collection can be done by placing containers at roof downspouts, roof gutter outlets or at the “valley” of the roof, or with a tarp rigged into a v shape to collect the water.

Ponds and streams are other sources of water. I live one half mile from Shades Creek, and ¼ mile from one of its tributaries. In its natural state I would no more drink the water from it than I would from a fully loaded urinal. But, properly filtered and purified, preferably by boiling, it would be perfectly safe to drink, taste, as mentioned earlier, notwithstanding.

Again, water from “emergency” or “outside” sources probably will not taste like city or bottled water. Funky tasting as it may prove, if it has been filtered and purified, it is safe to drink and will save your life.

Procurement simply means carrying the water from the source to the filtering location, which may be at the source or at the base of operations, which ever you deem the most convenient spot.

Filtration of water will remove the majority of chemical and waste products from water. This can be achieved by passing water through a filter or by distillation, which we will discuss later.

To begin the discussion on filtration let me say that most commercial water filters designed for use on your residential supply or kitchen sink are neither designed for nor sufficient for filtering polluted or biologically contaminated water. There are filters commercially available designed for camping and survival use such as Aquamira filters. This straw like filter will allow you to safely drink from streams, puddles and other sources normally considered chemically and biologically unsafe. Having one in your emergency kit isn’t a bad idea.

Effective homemade filters and filtration systems can be made.

How elaborate the system or method needed depends on the condition of the source water.
Water from a clear, fast moving stream may only need straining through cloth or a sand filled cloth. Water from a murky or stagnant source will need more serious attention. Water from either source will need to be purified.

The murky source understandably, but, even water from the fresh flowing “pristine looking” sources needs purification, as you never know what may be decomposing in it 100 yards upstream. Or as was pointed out in the John Wayne movie “The Horse Soldiers”, “the coffee will taste better if the latrine is located downstream”. You never know what may have been tinkled into the stream 100 yards upstream.

Let’s examine the filtration process using the worst case scenario – Shades Creek or even better yet, Village Creek.

First you need four containers: A one or two liter bottle with a cap for the untreated water, which we shall affectionately refer to as “swamp water”. A similar bottle is needed for the partially filtered water. You need yet another container for the filter itself and finally a container for the filtered water.

1. Collection. Collect your “Swamp Water” into the two liter bottle with a cap, preferably with a cloth covering the opening, as this acts as a filter. Fill ¾ full, then cap the bottle.
2. Aeration. This next step in the filtration process adds air to water. It allows gases trapped in the water to escape and adds oxygen to the water. Vigorously shake the bottle for 30 seconds. Continue the aeration process by pouring the water into the second bottle, then pouring the water back and forth between the bottles about 10 times. Once aerated, gases have escaped (bubbles should be gone). Pour your aerated water into your second bottle.
3. Sedimentation This process allows gravity to pull particles to the bottom of the bottle. Allow the water to stand undisturbed in the bottle for 20 minutes. At an actual water treatment plant, there are settling beds that collect solid particles that float to the bottom, allowing the clear water to be drained from the top of the bed and continue through the process.
4. Draining. Pour the upper two thirds of the water contents into the filter, the construction of which we will now detail.
5. Filtration. A homemade water filter is constructed in the following manner. Take one of your bottles and cut the bottom off. Turn the bottle upside down and line the inside of the spout with a cloth, such as a handkerchief or bandana. Pour in layer of gravel or pebbles roughly 2 inches thick. Add a layer of charcoal that has not been exposed to lighter fluid 1 inch thick. This will help absorb chemicals and the bad taste. Add a 3 inch layer of coarse sand. Finally add 4 inches of fine sand.

This filter will remove most of the contamination remaining after the sedimentation process. It is a similar arrangement to the Clapp’s Water Filter dating from 1908, except that that filter is made from a barrel and uses multiple layers of filtration. It is also the exact design currently in use in the Manz Slow Sand and Biosand Filters used in third world countries. The only difference being that they are much larger in size and have different outlet arrangements. One exception with the Biosand filter is that it has a fifth biological filter called a Schmutzdecke, which is a layer of mud and slime that develops over time. This layer of “good bacteria” literally eats the “bad bacteria”. These filters are for long term or open ended emergencies, which is beyond the scope of this series, but, mentioned so it may pique your interest.

To prime your homemade filter run water through it a couple of times. Now take following Step 4 above pour your water into the filter. The water emerging from the filter may not look crystal clear, but it will be “mostly free” from contamination. I say “mostly free” because it is not wise to claim perfection.

The water will still need to be disinfected.

Purification or Sanitization. Water can be sanitized by three different methods – by boiling, chemical treatment or by a process called “SODIS”.

Boiling the water for 1 minute will kill 100% of harmful pathogens 100% of the time. It is the best and preferred method. The water, after it is cooled may need to be shaken in a clean ¾ full container to add oxygen to remove the “flat” taste. But, this water is now absolutely biologically safe to drink.

If you can’t make a fire to boil water, you can use the chemical options – purification tablets, iodine or chlorine bleach.

Dropping a water purification tablet, such as the Coleman Potable Aqua with PA Plus tablets, into a quart of water will make the water bacteriologically safe to drink within 30 minutes.

Iodine can be used if you are not pregnant or allergic to iodine, otherwise don’t try this method. Add 5-10 drops per 32 fluid ounces (about 1 liter) of water. If the water source is a lake or some other still body of water, or if the water is cloudy, you want to add closer to 10 drops.

The iodine needs time to completely purify the water. You need to wait 30 minutes before you can drink the water. After you have waited 30 minutes, your water is purified for drinking.

Common household Clorox Ultra, Clorox, or Purex chlorine bleach may be used to disinfect water in the following amounts. Use four drops per quart in clear water. This amount should be increased to eight drops in cloudy water, and sixteen drops per gallon of clear water. You should be able to get a slight odor of chlorine after the waters sits for the 15 minutes. If not, add more bleach.

Clorox recently changed its formula to “Clorox Concentrated” bleach. Since this has a higher amount of chemical agents, the amount used for purification should be adjusted to 2 drops per quart, 6 drops per gallon, or if the water is cloudy, 3 drops per quart and 12 drops per gallon.

Avoid using bleaches that contain perfumes, dyes and other additives. Also, one thing that organizations which recommend the chlorine method don’t tell you is that chlorinated bleach loses it’s strength with time. After one year on the shelf, it will have lost 50% of its strength, so double the dose on old chlorine.

The “SODIS” method is perhaps the simplest method of all. In this you take clear plastic PET bottles, like the ones “bottled water” water comes in (you’ll remember me saying don’t throw them away) fill them ¾ full with water to be purified, shake them for 20 seconds to improve the oxygen saturation of the water, and then complete filling the bottles. Expose the bottles to direct sunlight by placing them on a slanted surface, such as a roof, so that they receive direct exposure. By exposing them to continuous sunlight for 6 hours the UV radiation from the sun will disinfect the water. This is a method recommended by the World Health Organization for water treatment and storage, especially for areas located between latitude 15°N and 35°N, and 15°S and 35°S. Birmingham’s latitude is 33.5N.

Distillation will allow you to bypass the filtering and purification steps.

After Katrina, survivors well inland found their water, including well water contaminated by salt water. They were able to purify their water by taking a large stock pot or a canner, turning the lid upside down and suspending a smaller pot from the handle. The “Swamp water” was placed in the large pot, brought to boil and the smaller pot collected the purified water that the steam and condensation produced.

The water was biologically and chemically pure and had no hint of saltiness.

Distillation is the recommended purification process for water from swimming pools.

Consumption and Storage is fairly self-explanatory. Drink as much water as you can and store as much water as you can process. It’s far better to have too much rather than too little.

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Mark’s Almanac

May is the fifth month & third month of the Roman calendar. Since ancient times the first day of the month, “May Day” has been a time of celebration. In Rome it honored Flora, the goddess of flowers.

On May the fifth Mexican’s celebrate Cinco De Mayo, the celebration Mexico’s 1862 victory over Napoleon III’s forces at Puebla. This is not, as many assume, Mexico’s Independence Day, which is actually on September 16.

Rainfall decreases in May as the Bermuda High strengthens & begins rerouting storm systems northward.

The door opens to the Gulf of Mexico & Gulf moisture spreads northward over the continent.

The center of maximum tornadic activity also shifts northward over the Nation’s Heartland. May is the peak tornado month, with a 42% increase over April’s amount.

Eastern Pacific hurricane season begins May 15, and although the North Atlantic hurricane season has not arrived, occasionally a tropical system will form in the Gulf of Mexico. In 110 years there have been 14 named storms.

Turning our eyes towards the sky, Mercury is lost in the glow of dawn, while Venus is barely above the west-northwest horizon, visible 15 to 20 minutes after sunset.

Mars is hidden in the glow of the sun

Jupiter glows high in the west at sunset, and is descending little by little each night, setting around 10 or 11 PM

Saturn glows the east-southeast as twilight fades and reaches his greatest height around midnight.

Uranus is hidden in the glow of dawn.

Neptune is low in the east-southeast just before dawn.

The Aquarids Meteor Shower, a minor shower, will peak May 5 & 6.

May’s Full Moon is “Flower Moon” in Native American folklore. This month’s full moon will occur May 24th at 1:27 PM.

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This month’s meeting will be on May 14 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

I hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Training Officer
ALERT

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx

What prompted the concern of my classmates and I that April day was the skies darkening pea green color and the rapidly increasing wind.

Unknown to us, the students on the bottom floor of my school had correctly been told to crouch down in the hallway, while we teenage miscreants on the top floor of the high school were told nothing, except to “hush” and everything was business as usual.

We were unaware that the F5 tornado which would become known as the “Smithfield Tornado” was passing us, two miles to the north.

The next day the teacher wasn’t particularly interested in discussing her forecasting abilities, even though we were VERY eager to discuss it. “Hush”, she said, free speech being stifled again.

April weather in Alabama is seldom halfhearted. Either it is beautiful spring weather, as if Heaven is blooming around us, or it is as if the Gates of Perdition have been swung wide open.

Experience teaches us to look upon Aprils skies with a jaundiced eye.

Notable April tornado dates include:

April 3 & 4, 1974 “The Day of 100 Tornadoes”, which affected the entire Eastern United States and Southern Canada. This day saw 148 tornadoes, which killed 315 people and injured over 5,000 people. This includes 23 killed and 250 injured in Guin, which was literally wiped off the map by an F5 tornado.

April 4, 1977 “The Smithfield Tornado”, mentioned above. An F5 tornado which left 22 dead 130 injured in North Jefferson County.

April 8, 1998 “The Oak Grove Tornado”. This F5 tornado left 32 dead 259 injured in Tuscaloosa & Western Jefferson County. The sound of which is forever etched into my memory, as it passed only one mile from my house.

April 15, 1956 “The McDonald Chapel Tornado”. A tornado now rated as an F4, since the Fujita Scale had not yet been invented, killed 25 and injured 200.

April 25 – 28, 2011 this, the largest super outbreak on record, produced 348 tornadoes, including the EF4 tornado which swept through Tuscaloosa and Jefferson County on April 27. 62 tornados killed over 239 people in Alabama alone.

As we enter April remember these dates, and keep an eye to the sky. Hopefully we will have the most boring weather April has ever produced. But, always remember that it is just a matter of time when the tornadoes of April will return.

So prepare, and stay prepared. For history tends to repeat itself on a disturbingly regular basis.
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The 5 Main Ways To Push Up Daisies In A Disaster Part 2

As we continue with our series, I will remind you that this series is written with the intention that it will pique your curiosity and interest in personal emergency preparedness. Having done so hopefully you will take the time and effort to research these topics for yourself.

I claim no expertise in these matters; I’m just discussing what I’ve read, watched and heard. You should study for yourself using multiple sources and come to your own conclusions. Then it will become YOUR knowledge. Something which no storm or person can take from you. Remember that the most important piece of emergency equipment you possess is your brain and the knowledge that you have stored inside of it.

I will also add the disclaimer that neither I nor ALERT nor the NWS will be held responsible for consequences of actions tried or not tried based on the information discussed in these articles.

With that said we now continue with part 2 of our series.

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How to Meet the Reaper #2

On March 11, 2011, Japan was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake which triggered a 133-foot tsunami resulting in 15,878 deaths. News media referred to this as the “dual disaster”. They were wrong. It was a triple disaster. For after the two headline events, the temperature then dropped to freezing, and it snowed on the dazed survivors as they wandered aimlessly, struggling with neither shelter nor heat. How many survivors died due to hypothermia, we will never know.

On October 29, 2012 Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast, causing massive damage on a regional scale, with block after block of houses and buildings flooded and smashed into rubble. Sandy then transformed into a Nor’easter, causing a major snowstorm to sweep across the region snowing on the now homeless survivors, and forcing more people out of their remaining homes. The storm took down the remaining power lines leaving 3 quarters of a million people without power and water during bitterly cold conditions.

Whether due to the body core temperature rising too high due to hyperthermia, or falling too low due to hypothermia, the condition once commonly called “exposure to the elements” is the second most common way to “leave the land o’ the living” after a disaster.

It is said by a rule known as the “rule of threes” that, given the severity of the conditions, without proper precautions and actions you can die of exposure within 3 hours. Freezing temperatures are not a necessity for hypothermia; just chill your body core temperature below 95 degrees, which is easily done if you are soaking wet in 45-degree windy weather.

I’m zeroing in on hypothermia in this article. The reason for this being that on more than one occasion I have seen East Alabama being hit by tornadoes, central Alabama digging through the rubble after touchdowns and receiving reports of snow in Mississippi, behind the cold front which triggered the tornado outbreak. So this is far from a fanciful notion.

The best way to protect yourself from hypothermia is to dress properly for winter, with a waterproof outer shell, sweaters or layers underneath, and a hat, since 70% of your body heat is lost through your head. But, realistically speaking, who is going to grab a parka when a tornado warning is issued? Especially if it is spring like outside, even though we may know that in Meridian it is 31 degrees and snowing.

What can you do?

One thing is to include a poncho and blanket in your emergency kit. Preferably a wool blanket, as wool retains 80% of its insulative value even if it is soaking wet. Common large trash bags or even better, larger 55 gallon construction grade trash bags can provide an instant poncho. Just cut a hole in the bottom for your head, so you can see and breathe and holes for your arms and you are in business. You may look like a giant prune, but, they work, keeping you out of the wet and wind, and you have probably used them before.

Do you know how to make a shelter “on the fly”?

All a shelter is designed to do is protect you from the wind, wet and cold. One of the easiest shelters you can build is to simply tie any type of cordage, be it rope, DEAD extension cords, weed eater line, etc to two uprights and drape, tie or tape sheeting over that line making a crude tent. The sheeting can be a tarp, shower curtains; garbage bags taped together – anything waterproof.

You will need a “floor”, which may be as simple as garbage bags stuffed with leaves, newspapers or clothing or blankets. The object is to keep your body from losing heat by it being drained into the ground due to conduction.

Only do this AFTER you have looked up to make sure there is no danger of objects falling on you and that you have looked down to make sure you won’t impale yourself on nails or glass, get electrocuted or be laying on an anthill.

Another type of shelter is the “debris shelter”, which instead of using a suspended line between uprights, it uses a horizontal or sloping pole with debris, such as plywood planks leaned against the central pole making a crude, but effective sloping roof, either as a one sided “lean to” or preferably in a double sided “A-Frame” configuration.

Remember that these are emergency measures meant to keep you alive until help arrives. More details are readily available in books and on the web, including information on the next topic – fire.

What of fire?

Fire, properly used, can provide warmth, light, cook your food, purify your water and ease your fears by “chasing away the boogie man”, on an otherwise pitch dark night.

Improperly used it can burn down the remains of your neighborhood, especially if there is a fuel or natural gas leak.

Learning how to safely build and manage a fire is a valuable asset. If you have this knowledge, having a “fire kit” in your emergency supplies is a wise move.

There are two types of fire technology. “Friction based” aka “rubbing sticks together” & “spark based”, which uses lighters, matches and other spark producing devices. The easiest to use is spark-based technology.

A basic fire kit should contain multiple fire lighting options and some sort of fluffy tender to help start the initial flame. Multiple options should be used because of two principles. The first principle being the “Two makes one and one makes none” principle. Which means if you rely on one method or one single item and it breaks or you lose it, you are out of options, aka “up the creek”. But, if you have two or more methods or tools, even if you lose one, you have one or more backups.

The other principle is “The conservation of nonrenewable resources”. Which deals with wasting resources you can’t replace by using and losing the wrong tools, in the wrong conditions, on the wrong materials to achieve a desired goal. Again multiple options may save the day.

A fire kit might include:

A Butane or “Bic” lighter. These are inexpensive, and readily available, but, they won’t work if they are soaked, stepped on, or in most cases, empty.
“Strike anywhere” matches, with the matches and the striker from the side if the box stored in a waterproof bag or canister. Making sure that you wrap the striker in plastic wrap so that the matches won’t self-ignite by the matches accidently rubbing against the striker. The drawback of these matches is that they are not waterproof.
“NATO lifeboat matches” or “survival matches”. These are windproof and waterproof, and will spontaneously reignite even if they are dropped in water.
A ferrocium rod and striker, which when scraped produces a shower of 3000 degree sparks.
A magnesium fire starter, which is used by scraping a quarter size pile of magnesium shavings and igniting it with an attached ferrocium rod. This produces a 5600-degree flame.
A small bag of dryer lint, preferably cotton. This is a free resource, used as a fire tender that catches fire easily, but burns very rapidly, 5 seconds or less.
A small bag of cotton balls rubbed in Vaseline or impregnated with candle wax. This used in conjunction with dryer lint, will help sustained the flame, so you have time to build your fire. A pile of Fritos will do this also, by the way.

The term “Build a fire” means just that. You start with a small ember or flame and build it into a larger but, not too large fire. You don’t need the Olympic Torch, just a small “campfire”.

After making sure the area is safe for a fire, you gather your fuel which is wood, NOT kerosene, gasoline or charcoal lighter fluid. Make a contained area for the fire, to isolate it from other materials. This can be a circle of rocks, a garbage can lid, or if you go “hobo style”, build the fire in a bucket or barrel. If building the fire on the ground, make a layer of wood and build the fire on this platform, to insulate the fire from the wet ground, as the wet ground will draw heat away from the struggling fire. Make a nest of drier lint, with a cotton ball in the nest and place it on the wood layer. Ignite the lint & cotton ball and then slowly and patiently add your other materials, going from smaller size to larger. For instance, pine straw first. Pencil lead size twigs next. Then add twigs half the size of a pencil, then pencil size, cigar size and so forth. Eventually baseball bat thickness, but nothing larger, Wood that is wet on the outside usually dry on the inside, so if you have a way to split it, use it.

At this point I will reemphasize that unless it is absolutely safe to do so, or you are not familiar with fire craft or fire handling, don’t even try building one, as you may do far more harm than good.

But, I will also say this. I know a lady “Miss Julie” who is originally from the Philippines. She and her husband survived the April 27th tornado. She told me that after three days without power she told her husband “when I was little girl, we used to cook by campfire in the back yard, so my husband built a fire and we had hot soup!”

If it worked for “Miss Julie”, it can work for you also.
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Mark’s Almanac

The Romans called April “Aprilis”, probably from the word “aperire”, which means, “to open”. This being the time of year when buds open. It was originally the second month of the Roman calendar, before Roman King Numa Pompilius added January & February in 700 BC.

April is less wet than March & rain becomes more localized and less widespread in nature. The sun heats the lower atmosphere near the ground and since the upper atmosphere is still cold, the warm air rises, reaches the dew point line, forms clouds & then it may rain. April is the first time in the Spring season that favors local convective activity, which is why you have “April Showers”.

While April is the beginning of the Spring season in the Northern Hemisphere, it is the beginning of Autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere, being their equivalent of October.

April is peak tornado month, with wide scale outbreaks possible. There are 2 ½ times the number of tornadoes as in March. 25% of the year’s tornadoes will have occurred by April 28.

In between the clouds of April’s storms will be the stars of April’s sky.

April’s sky is scarce of planets this month as Venus, Mars, Uranus and Neptune are lost in the glare of the sun.

Mercury however is emerging from the glow of the Sun just above the east-southeast horizon about 30 minutes before sunrise.

Jupiter glows very high in the west at sunset, and dominates the southwestern sky & is shrinking as he moves away from Earth.

Saturn rises in the east-southeast about 30 minutes after the end of twilight and reaches his greatest height around 2 or 3 AM.

Comet PanSTARRS is now fading rapidly as it departs the inner solar system. It will pass very close to the Andromeda Galaxy Thursday, April 4, low in the western evening twilight.

Did you see the comet? Teresa and I went to the top of Shades Mountain at the Tip Top Grill, and joined several brave souls standing in the chilly breeze. As the sun was setting you could see several contrails. These we knew weren’t the comet, for comets don’t move. At sunset, just to the left of the sun was a small object with a short tail pointing away from the sun. Could this be it, I wondered. As the sky grew darker, the jets kept moving, but this object did not move, except for a slow oblique motion in perfect sync with the Sun’s setting. If it were a jet, the poor sucker was flying very slowly and very sideways. So, I will say that on a chilly March evening in 2013 we saw the comet.

Now I will be waiting for this fall, when hopefully Comet Ison will be paying us a very noticeable visit.

Evenings in early April offer an excellent opportunity to view the zodiacal light. Zodiacal light is a faint, roughly triangular whitish glow seen in the night sky which appears to extend up from the vicinity of the sun along the ecliptical plane. It is caused by sunlight scattered by space dust in the orbital plane of the Earth.

From the Northern Hemisphere, early spring is the best time of year to observe this elusive glow after sunset. It appears slightly fainter than the Milky Way, so you’ll need a clear moonless sky and an observing site located far from the city. Look for the cone-shaped glow, which points nearly straight up from the western horizon, after the last vestiges of twilight have faded away

April’s Full Moon is “Pink Moon” in Native American folklore. This will occur April 25 at 2:50 PM.

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This month’s meeting will be on April 9 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

I hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Training Officer
ALERT

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx

I hope this finds everyone doing well. Hopefully you were able to attend the 2013 Birminghamfest this weekend.

The hamfest was well attended and we were treated to a great Skywarn forum on Dual-Pol Radar given by NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist John DeBlock.

It was good to see many of our members, and reacquaint with old friends, including one who I haven’t seen since the 9th grade, and good to put faces with the voices I hear on the Sunday Night Net.

Revisiting the Sunday Night Net for a second, it’s interesting to remember back in 2001 when I started as net manager and we usually had three check-ins. Now we average 40 to 50 on a consistent basis.

Over the years the net has had very few complaints. The most frequent complaint is that the net runs too slowly. “Could you speed it up a little?” Of course I’ve also been told it’s too fast, people use wrong phonetics, no phonetics, “tell folk not to check in if they have weak signals”, so forth and so on. I’ve heard it all.

As Net Manager I am in charge of coaching and discipline, which if I feel it is necessary, I will do. A casual listener may never be aware that anything ever was said, for I do this privately, one on one, either in person or via the telephone, which is the exact method I use at work as a supervisor. I prefer handling things privately, without embarrassing or discouraging people.

We have a good net, with good people, and I am grateful for the help I have on the net. Help is still needed also, and I urge you to give it a try. Just let me know when you wish to make a “guest appearance”. Your help would surely be appreciated.

This month’s ALERT meeting on March 12th will feature the selection of the two person Nominating Committee for the upcoming elections in May.

Please plan on attending this meeting & don’t be shy about volunteering to serve on the Committee or to make yourself available for a leadership role. We need some of our newer members to step up and become active members of ALERT’s leadership. All it takes is a willing heart and once elected a commitment to faithfully fulfill your duties of office to the best of your abilities.

We need you to be actively involved in ALERT’s leadership and to help us build a strong ALERT organization for the future.

Your time has arrived.

Your ALERT needs you.

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The 5 Main Ways To Push Up Daisies In A Disaster Part 1
To be honest there are dozens of ways to “buy the farm” in a disaster. However, if one looks at the most likely ways we can narrow them down to five major causes.

Before proceeding to the first of those causes, we will give some time definitions. For the purposes of this article we will limit this to “short term” and “medium term” emergencies, and define a short-term emergency as being from 0 to 72 hours and a medium-term emergency being from 72 hours to 21 days. Beyond this we enter the realm of long term and open ended emergencies, which is beyond the scope of this series.

Also, I feel I must include this disclaimer. This series is designed accomplish one thing only – to give you food for thought. It is not meant to be a crash course in disaster survival, and should not be mistaken as such. I ask you to read, consider and then do research on you’re on. There are tremendous resources readily available both in print and video, and I urge you to study and learn.

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How to Meet the Reaper #1

The first method is disaster related physical trauma, either as a direct result of the event or circumstances surrounding the event. This can occur before, during or after a disaster.

Pre-disaster deaths usually occur by people panicking, acting irrationally or being affected by those who do.

One factor seldom mentioned in preparedness articles is the human body’s reaction to fear from imminent danger. The human body initiates reactions due to fear, which affects normal mental and bodily functions. Among other things, for instance, when you become afraid, (and fear is not a mark of cowardice) your circulatory system becomes altered as the capillaries reroute your blood away from your extremities and pools it in the core of your body. Why? The body is preparing itself for cuts and bruises and providing a way to help you not hemorrhage from multiple cuts. Because of this It is possible that you may receive cuts that don’t immediately bleed, but begin bleeding after the fear subsides.

As a result of this rerouting of your blood, your muscles are affected. You lose the fine motor skills you need for skilled tasks such as texting, keyboarding, fiddling with knobs, tying ropes etc. On the other hand, your gross motor skills, used for lifting, running, etc, become enhanced. Add adrenaline, which your body releases and you might be able to lift objects heavier than normal and run faster. Since you are not used to the way your body is now acting, your efficiency bottoms out, and you are more accident-prone. Plus your brain may become overloaded trying to process what is happening and you may not be able to think clearly. Basically you can unintentionally become an unwilling klutz.

The only way to overcome this is by training and practice, training and practice. And, even with this, a situation may throw a curve ball that you didn’t anticipate, and you freeze up.

There is another factor to add to this. You can be doing everything “right” and become a victim of someone else’s actions, for example, someone acting in a blind panic and hitting you with his or her car.

This accident is storm related, though the storm may end up dissipating long before reaching your location.

During the event itself, which in our case we will assume to be a tornado; death and injuries may result from being picked up and blown by the tornado, being crushed by collapsing walls, ceiling and roofs. By being hit by flying or falling wood, boards and sheet metal, or miscellaneous objects including glass, nails, appliances big and small, and furniture ranging in size from footstools to pianos. Not forgetting getting hit by vehicles, power poles and trees.

To help protect yourself and your loved ones go to a pre-designated shelter area such as a safe room, basement, storm cellar, or the lowest building level. If there is no basement, go to the center of an interior room on the lowest level (closet, interior hallway or bathroom) away from corners, windows, doors, and outside walls. Put as many walls as possible between you and the outside. Don’t bother opening the windows, as the storm will take care of this for you.

In a high-rise building, go to a small interior room or hallway on the lowest floor possible. Get under a sturdy table and use your arms to protect your head and neck. Cover your body with thick blankets or clothing to protect you from flying debris. Protect the head from brain injury by wearing a motorcycle, bicycle or football helmet or a hard hat. Put on sturdy shoes, so you don’t injure your feet on broken glass and nails.

Make sure potentially dangerous objects do not surround your shelter, and that it is far enough away from the water heater that you won’t be scalded if it became overturned or was punctured and the hot water was released.

Your shelter should contain a disaster supply kit, including the items recommended by NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, FEMA, the Canadian, Japanese and Israeli governments, which are:

A 3-day supply of water (one gallon per person per day) and food that won’t spoil
One change of clothing and footwear per person
One blanket or sleeping bag per person
A first-aid kit, including prescription medicines
Emergency tools, including a battery-powered NOAA Weather Radio and a portable radio
A flashlight and plenty of extra batteries
An extra set of car keys and a credit card or cash
Remember special items for infant, elderly, or disabled family members.

Post disaster death and injury may result as people walk among debris and enter damaged buildings. Many tornado-related injuries occur during well meant, but, ill-advised rescue attempts, cleanup and other post-tornado activities.

This may result from stepping on nails, making contact with damaged power lines, gas lines or electrical systems, where there is a risk of fire, electrocution or an explosion.

Unless you are in immediate danger where you are sitting or are otherwise directed by authorities, you should remain at your location and wait to be rescued. Wading through a debris field, with few remaining recognizable landmarks, holding untold hidden dangers under the debris, is inviting death. Unless you have a plainly clear path, stay put. But, do understand that it may take time for the rescuers to reach you.

This applies to almost every emergency situation that you could encounter. Whether a car breakdown, plane crash or just being lost, stay put. That way you are easier to find, and you don’t lead rescuers on a wild goose chase.

In a wilderness situation, for instance, rescuers almost always find the victim’s car days before finding the bodies of the victims who choose to wander off heading somewhere, anywhere, “knowing” that the road was just around the next of a series of endless corners.

What is the time limit for post disaster injury? I don’t know. One gentleman I know survived the April 27 tornado and six months later climbed a ladder to repair some minor damage, had the ladder collapse and he ended up with his teeth stuck in the roof, a broken jaw and a broken arm. Was this storm related? Could be.

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Mark’s Almanac

Originally called Martius, March is the third month of our calendar & the first month of the Roman calendar. March is named for Mars, the god of war, and marked the start of the military campaign season. Other seasons concentrated on sowing, harvesting and weathering through winter.

The beginning of “Meteorological Spring”, which is based on changes in temperature and precipitation, not the solar angle, is March 1

March is a wet month. Most floods occur in March and rainfall averages around 6 inches.

Tornadic activity sharply increases in March with there being an increase of 2.2 times the number of tornadoes over the February amount. The focal point for this tornadic activity is the Gulf States.

March is the hail maximum for the Deep South. This is due both to the number of thunderstorms & due to the freezing level still being near the surface. This allows hail to form at lower altitudes and reach the ground intact, as opposed to summer months, when the near surface level temperatures are higher and melts the hail into liquid before impact.

Killing frosts are gone and the last average frost is on March 16.

March is a snow month for Alabama & there is a 45% chance of snow up to one inch, and an 8% chance of one inch or more.

The good news is that there is hope on the horizon as Spring will arrive at Vernal Equinox on March 20 at 11:02 UTC or 6:02 A.M. CDT.

Remember to get the eggs and brooms out, as it is said that you can stand eggs on their ends near the equinox, as well as brooms.

Saint Patrick’s Day is March 17, and you better participate by wearing a Touch O’ The Green or you will be plagued by leprechauns and gnomes. Not a pleasant experience, I can assure you.

This March we have a dearth of planetary objects to observe as Mercury and Uranus are now sinking low on the western horizon, and Venus, Mars and Neptune are already lost in the glare of the sun.

Luckily we still have Jupiter and Saturn to keep us company on these chilly March nights.

Jupiter is very high in the south at sunset, and dominates the southwestern sky. A small telescope will reveal the cloud bands circling the planet and the nightly procession of the four Galilean moons, Io, Europa Callisto and Ganymede as they change position nightly. A larger telescope will reveal the “Great Red Spot” of Jupiter, a storm which has been raging for 400 years. Jupiter sets around 1 AM.

Saturn rises in the east-southeast around midnight or 11 p.m. local time. The same small telescope you used on Jupiter will reveal Saturn’s rings and the planet sized moon Titan hovering nearby.

Australian sky viewers have been watching Comet PanSTARRS grow into a spectacular sight both at dusk and dawn in the past week. Recent brightness of the comet indicates that it could be experiencing another surge or a “second wind”, and if the current brightness of comet PANSTARRS continues, it might reach the 1st or 2nd magnitude or become a little brighter compared to the stars of the Big Dipper.

For observers in the Northern Hemisphere the comet will appear above the horizon after sunset on March 7. To see it, you will need an unobstructed, cloudless view of the western horizon, preferably from a dark location, away from streetlights.

Look in the direction of the Sunset just after the Sun has gone down. The comet should be just above the horizon.

The twilight sky will make the comet much harder to see than if it were high up in a dark sky and moonlight will interfere with viewing the comet after March 13.

To see the comet’s tails, you may need a pair of binoculars. Bright comets are ideal binocular objects; however telescopes do not do them justice, as telescopes will over magnify them. You want more light gathering capability, not magnification. Plus with binoculars you have the advantage of using both eyes, which automatically doubles the visual data your brain receives.

March 13 may be the best time to take an interesting picture of the comet because on that evening, it will appear just below the thin crescent Moon.

By the end of March, the comet will no longer be visible in the evening sky, but if you get up early, you may be able to see it in the eastern sky just before sunrise. However, by then the comet will be farther from both the Sun and Earth, and will therefore be fainter.

Comet Lemmon (C/2012 F6) is currently coursing its way through the constellation Tucana the Toucan (yes there is such a constellation) in the Southern Hemisphere, below our horizon. Comet Lemmon is gradually diminishing from planet Earth this month, and will circle around the Sun on March 24.

Northern hemisphere observers will get their first good look at the comet in early April in the morning sky close to the Great Square of Pegasus.

Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) is still expected to be a very bright “great comet” in autumn, being visible to the naked eye from November to January, and is predicted to be as bright as Venus or even brighter at the highlight.

March’s Full Moon is “Worm Moon” in Native American folklore. So called because the rains disturb the earthworms & they are seen wiggling around after the rains.

They are edible by the way, being 80% protein, but I’ll let you have my share.

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This month’s meeting will be on March 12 at 7PM at the National Weather Service
Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Training Officer
ALERT

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx

I think this is called “Inverse Forecasting”.

Looking towards the sky, Mercury is reappearing from the glow of sunset and day by day will become easier to see. Using binoculars, look for him on a clear evening starting about 30 minutes after sunset, just above the west-southwest horizon.

Venus is buried deep in the glow of sunrise.

Mars is very near Mercury, though fainter. On February 7th and 8th, they pass less than 1° apart.

Jupiter dominates the high south in early evening, and later in the southwest.

Saturn rises in the east-southeast around midnight or 1 a.m. local time. Saturn’s rings are tilted 19° from edge on, the widest they’ve appeared in seven years.

Uranus is getting low in the west after dusk, in the constellation Pisces.

Neptune is lost in the sunset glow, in the background of Mercury and Mars.

Comet PanSTARRS, which had promised to be a treat in March, has been weakening. It may not even reach naked-eye visibility, and so may prove to be a cosmic fizzle.

On the other hand, another comet, Comet Lemmon, which was expected to be a minor event is brightening and light curves suggest that it will reach 2nd or 3rd magnitude, similar to the stars in the Big Dipper, in late March when it approaches the sun at about the same distance as Venus.
Northern hemisphere observers will get their first good look at the comet in early April; until then it is a target exclusively for astronomers in the southern hemisphere.

Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) is still expected to be a very bright “great comet” in Autumn, being visible to the naked eye from November to January, and can be as bright as Venus or more at the highlight.

The evening sky is now alit with the bright stars of winter, with Orion the Hunter overhead, along with his faithful hunting dogs, Canis Major & Canis Minor, the Large & Lesser Dogs. In Canis Major is the blue star Sirius, The Dog Star, which 8.6 light years away, is the brightest star in the night sky.

February and March are the best times of the year for seeing the Zodiacal Light. In the evening away from city lights and after twilight has faded you might see a faint, roughly triangular, whitish glow near the sunset point. This is Zodiacal Light, which is formed by the sunlight reflecting off millions of minute particles of cosmic dust aligned with the Earth’s orbital plane.

Another sight, much more common is the Earth Shadow. At sunset, on very clear days, as the sun goes farther below the horizon, you will see what appears to be a layer of gray cloud rising along the eastern horizon. This is actually the silhouette of the earth’s shadow being cast against the darkening sky, sometimes with a pinkish glow along the edge. It fades as twilight fades into darkness.

February’s Full Moon is “Cold Moon” in Native American folklore.

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This month’s meeting will be on February 12 at 7PM at the National Weather Service
Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Training Officer
ALERT

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx

This month’s newsletter will be shorter than usual as well as being little tardy.

The ALERT website has been moved to a new more advanced and secure server at Cahaba Internet. This required a new callout and general email list, which are now operational.

The new website http://alert-alabama.org/blog/ is operational, but, “under construction”. Russell, KV4S, is working on the website features, and on transferring some of the old “relevant” content from the old site to the new site. Russell is looking for some images, preferably weather related, for the site. If you have any decent to high quality images, with a width of 1000 pixels and a height of 288 pixels please send them to Russell.

Congratulations are in order for the National Weather Service forecast offices in Birmingham, Huntsville, and Jackson, Mississippi, which have been awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medals for their efforts during the tornado outbreak of April 27, 2011.

The recognition specifies:

“The level of customer service and decision support leading up to and during the event certainly saved many lives while the follow-up storm surveys, analyses, and documentation were critical to local, state, and federal planning. The offices were widely praised for their accurate and life-saving warning messages that warned for catastrophic tornadoes with an average of more than 22 minutes advanced notice.”

The Silver Medal is the second highest honorary award granted by the Department of Commerce.

In other news, the NWS will hold a Basic Spotter class in Hoover on Thursday January 31 at 6 PM, at the Hoover Public Safety Center, 2020 Valleydale Road, Hoover.

The NWS Office will have an open house Saturday February 16, 2013. The public is invited to attend from 11 AM to 5 PM. The Red Cross, Fire Department, ALERT and other groups will be represented.

More details will be given at our next ALERT meeting on Tuesday February 12.

An online NWS Graduate Spotter Webinar will be held on Tuesday February 26, at 6:30 PM. You can register by going to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/519507641 Thanks to Teresa KQ4JC for this information.

Last but not least, the Birmingham Hamfest will take place Saturday and Sunday March 2 & 3. ALERT, HCARC and the NWS will have a table, and there will be a Skywarn forum, with a special guest speaker.

For further details, make sure to attend the February meeting!

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Mark’s Almanac

January is named for the Roman god Janus, the god of gates and doors, and so openings and beginnings.

January receives more sunlight than December, but the equilibrium between incoming solar heat and the heat radiated into space by the northern snowfields does not peak until late January and early February, six weeks after winter solstice. So the weather continues to cool, with January 8 – 20 being the coldest part of the year.

Typically in January there is a 53% chance of up to one inch of snow & a 25% chance of over one inch of snow.

With the exception of the southern tip of Nova Scotia, all of Canada and one half of the Continental US, or “CONUS”, are now covered with snow. Canada’s Hudson’s Bay is frozen, as is the ocean water between Baffin Island and Greenland. http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_usa.gif

Barometric pressure is highest in January.

In the night sky, Mercury is now hidden, lost in the Sun’s glare.

Venus, is getting lower each morning. Look for it above the southeast horizon about 30 minutes before sunrise.

Mars lies very low in the west-southwest in the fading glow of sunset.

Jupiter, in Taurus, is the first object visible in the east after sunset, and reach it’s highest in the south around 8 or 9 PM.

Saturn, in Libra, rises in the east-southeast around 1 or 2 a.m. As dawn begins to break, it’s fairly high in the southeast. This is a good time to grab a coat and telescope and take a look at Saturn’s rings. The rings are tilted 19° to our line of sight, which is the widest open they’ve been for seven years.

Dim Uranus lies in Pisces, is in the southwest right after dark.

Neptune is in Aquarius is low in the west-southwest after Sunset.

January’s Full Moon is “Wolf Moon” in Native American folklore. Coincidentally, January was called “Wulf-Monath” or “Wolf Month” by the Saxons. Full moon will occur January 26 at 10:38 PM CST.

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As I said, this newsletter was short, but sweet. For a longer newsletter, articles and suggestions are welcome.

See you at our next meeting!

Mark / WD4NYL
Training Officer
ALERT

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx