Hi Everyone, I hope this finds you well and enjoying the spring weather and the flowers that are greeting you, reminding you that no matter how hard the winter may be, the spring always comes. With spring come our April Showers and storms of spring, which is Prime Time for ALERT and the Skywarn Community. I hope you have taken advantage of the training sessions that the NWS has provided for potential storm spotters and have brushed up on your emergency preparedness skills. There are a few reminders that should be pointed out. First, being that while the NWS endorses and encourages Storm SPOTTING, they do not endorse or encourage Storm CHASING. Now, I will be the first one to admit that the dividing line between the two can be blurry. Spotting with binoculars from the front porch in your bathrobe and bunny slippers is clearly spotting. Prepositioning oneself on a ridge ahead of a storm to report the conditions is spotting. Rushing 95 MPH to reach that ridge is borderline, and running folk off the road in an SUV with blinking lights, a roof sprouting a dozen antennae, anemometers and the sides covered with homemade bogus “National Weather Service Official Storm Chase Vehicle” stickers is definitely over the edge. T Continue reading →

Hi Everyone, I hope this finds everyone doing well. An important event will be coming up Saturday and Sunday. What is it? Birminghamfest 2014!!! The Zamora Shrine Temple will host the 2014 Birminghamfest. Dealers, vendors, flea market, testing, and forums they will have it all. ALERT & The NWS will have a table & there will be an ALERT/NWS Forum at 12 Noon in Room #1. Come by the ALERT/NWS table & say “hi” & don’t be shy about sitting the table for a little while, as we need some brave souls who will donate an hour or two of their time and help man the table. If you can help, please do so. This month’s ALERT meeting March 11 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 y Continue reading →

Hi Everyone, As I type this, this cold and snowy night, I am reminded that emergencies and disasters can come in many forms and many with little or no warning. This week’s events illustrates that even with the best science, equipment and training we can still get blindsided. This is a hazard that exists with any scenario you can think of. So I have a question for you – are you prepared for an emergency? Have you studied the various dangers that you and your family could face? This includes large scale dangers, such as tornado outbreaks and small, neighborhood dangers such as floods, and man-made dangers, such as road accidents and accidents at nearby industrial sites. This includes dangers you pass by daily as you travel to and from work. Do you know how to get home should your primary and secondary routes become impassible? Do you have a stockpile of emergency supplies at home and at work? F Continue reading →

ALERT NEWSLETTER – January 2014 Vol. 7 No. 7 79th EDITION Hi Everyone, As we welcome 2014, we wish to thank you for the callout response during the recent severe weather threat. We had 6 operators, Charlie Catt, Dale Chambers, John Gray, Ronnie King, Michael Lamb and Roger Parsons, who gave roughly 4 hours of their time, between 8pm Saturday and 5:30am Sunday, December 21 & 22. This was a great response to the call-out. Ideally ALERT responders work 2 hour shifts and do not travel when they will encounter severe weather enroute to or from the NWS BMX Office. The reasons for this are for the safety of everyone involved and to not overwork those who volunteer. A BIG THANKS to those who were able to respond. Looking ahead to the spring severe weather season, assuming we do not have a severe weather episode (as the GFS – Goofy Forecast System – is hinting), ALERT will be conducting an ALERT Training class Saturday Jan 11, 2014 at 10:00 am, at the NWS forecast office. Thi Continue reading →