Hi everyone, I hope this finds you well and enjoying the spring weather and the flowers that greet you, reminding you that no matter how hard the winter is, 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, that while the NWS endorses and encouraged Storm SPOTTING, they do not endorse and 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 with 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 blinky lights, a roof sprouting a dozen antennae, anemometers and covered with home made “National Weather Service Official Storm Chase Vehicle” stickers is definitely over the edge. &l Continue reading →

Hi everyone, With Global Warming bringing us another chance for snow, I hope you have the emergency mugs of hot chocolate on standby. This hopefully being last major shot of cold weather it is good to be reminded that our first severe weather season has now begun. With that preface I’ll ask the question I usually ask this time of the year. Are you prepared? Here’s a quick test. Think of this as a “Simulated Emergency Test On The Cheap”. Ask a family member to pick a date & time, not telling when you of course, and on that date and time have them go to the breaker box & flip the switch. For a realistic test it should be during the last 15 minutes of that mini-series you’ve been watching the last five months. Or the end of that John Wayne movie when he has 3 bullets and 300 Comanche Warriors closing in. Or that ball game that’s in the bottom of the 15^th inning, with the bases loaded. Or, dare I say, just before the Imodium kicks in? Oh, you know….the usual times the telephone decides to ring. </s Continue reading →

Hi Everyone, Next month begins our spring severe weather season. Now is the time to take the time to review your emergency preparedness plans and for brushing up on your skills – including both communications & stormspotting. In preparing, you should ask yourselves these questions: Is my family shelter (and everyone should have one) ready? Is my equipment ready? Antennae up & radios working? Batteries charged? Are my communications channels open? Including RF, Internet & telephone resources. Can I receive weather bulletins & the ALERT callouts that will come? You want to prepare NOW, not wait until the sirens sound. For then it may be too late then. With this in mind, this is a good time to review ALERT’s operations procedures. We will call this some “online training”.

ALERT Callout Process

1. We want, encourage and welcome Operational members to take active roles in callouts. But, are you an ALERT member? If not, please join ALERT, for you must be a “paid up” member to be allowed to respond to a callout. Non-members cannot respond. < Continue reading →

Hi Everyone, Ever had an urge to once in a Blue Moon buy me an Icom-706? Well, lands sake & glory be, your time opportunity has arrived! On New Years Eve we will be treated to a Blue Moon. The current definition of a Blue Moon is a second full moon in a calendar month. Blue Moons occur every two and a half to three years, the next one being on August 21, 2012. New Years Eve Blue Moons are more rare, the last being in 1971. Where the term “Blue Moon” originated no one knows, but it dates to the days of Shakespeare. Back then it had little to do with the calendar cycle, but with an actual visibly blue moon appearance, which of course signaled global calamities in the near future. Sort of a Middle Ages version of Y2K, the 2012 Mayan calendar end of the world & Global Warming. <s Continue reading →