ALERT NEWSLETTER – May 2009 Vol 2 Number 11
Hi Everyone,
May is here, and there are many opportunities for ALERT and our friends at ARES and CERT.
If you have a chance, and I hope you will, a few of the activities in which you can participate are as follows:
May 2 & 3 – Birmingham Hamfest 2009 – ALERT and the NWS will have tables at the Hamfest Saturday
from 9 AM till Noon. Warning Coordination Meteorologist John De Block will be
representing the NWS. We will be needing volunteers to man the ALERT table. Special
thanks goes to John Miller KI4VVM, who is our first volunteer. Who will be next?
May 5 – For Community Emergency Response Team – CERT members, CERT will hold Triage Training
from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM at Calera Fire Station 1, 1310 7th Calera, AL.
May 7 — The Alabama Department of Homeland Security and ARES will be conducting the annual
statewide hurricane drill on from 7AM and to 4PM. The drill scenario focuses on a category 4 hurricane that comes ashore in Baldwin County and moves due North through the state, remaining at hurricane strength until it reaches the Tennessee line. K4NWS will be manned, and volunteers are still welcome at the station & operators at home are needed – one to monitor the Spotterchat & one with HF capability to act as a liaison between K4NWS and the state ARES net on 3.965 MHz.
May 7 – ARES & SCARC will be conducting a Net Control Station training course from 7:00 to
9:00 at the Shelby County Amateur Radio Club’s meeting location at the American Red Cross
office, on Valleydale Road just East of the I-65 overpass, at 4524 Southlake Parkway –
Suite #5 – Hoover/Pelham, AL.
May 12 – ALERT elections will be held May 12. I encourage you to come and participate. Remember
that in order to vote you must be either a Supporting or an Operational Member & you must be
physically present at the meeting in order to vote.
One final word about hamfest, should you feel the overwhelming urge to buy me several hundred pounds of equipment – just remember that a guys gotta do what a guys gotta do….;-)
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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.
It isn’t celebrated as much as it once was in the United States, but I, being old as dirt, remember Maypoles, festivals & such.
Rainfall decreases in May as the Bermuda High strengthens & begins rerouting storm systems northward.
May is the peak tornado month, with a 42% increase over April’s amount.
The focus of maximum tornadic activity shifts northward over the Nation’s Heartland, as winter retreats northward in its battle with spring, and Gulf moisture spreads northward over the continent.
How has Alabama fared so this year?
Storm Prediction Center statistics show that as of April 28 the top five states for tornadoes in 2009 are:
1. Alabama – 65 tornadoes
2. Georgia – 63 tornadoes
3. Texas – 37 tornadoes
4. Louisiana – 33 tornadoes
5. Mississippi – 28 tornadoes
Nationwide there have been 414 tornadoes so far this year.
As the tornado threat shifts northward, the time arrives that we should start looking towards the seas.
Eastern Pacific hurricane season begins May 15, and although the North Atlantic hurricane season is a month away, occasionally a tropical system will form in the Gulf of Mexico. Since 1851 there have been 19 tropical storms and hurricanes form in May.
May’s Full Moon is “Flower Moon” in Native American folklore.
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This month’s meeting will be on May 12 at 7PM at the National Weather Service
Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.
Hope to see you there!
Mark / WD4NYL
President
ALERT
www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/