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ALERT Newsletter

Hi everyone,

Spring finally has arrived and with it, the ALERT Callouts of active weather.

I want to thank the operators who have responded to the callouts and for the long hours you have put in at K4NWS. We are receiving good quality reports both from the Weather Chats and from our RF operations. And, the NWS & ALERT appreciate your efforts.

Always remember, that the reports you gather for the NWS do make a difference. Your efforts and the reports you receive for the NWS help in the raising the situational awareness level and help in the decision making processes leading to the warnings by which lives are being saved.

You may never know whose life you have saved or whose families that will still be whole because you provided that one key piece of information that tilted the scale & resulted in the warning that saved

that family. But, YOU were part of the reason they are still here. A fact for which you should never forget.

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ALERT NEWSLETTER – March 2009 Vol. 2 No. 9 http://www.alert-alabama.org Hi everyone, With the arrival of March we enter into the peak of the spring tornado season. Are you prepared? And, I’m not talking callouts, radios, antennas or chat rooms. I’m talking keeping you and your families alive and intact during and after the storms. For this should be your number one priority. Remember you can’t respond to callouts to any emergency team if you are dead or dying or desperately trying to dig your family out of the rubble that was a few moments ago your home. For this reason everyone should have a disaster plan. Both at home, at work & in between. Every home should have a safe place of refuge. You have heard “seek shelter in an interior room on the lowest floor.” And, this is very good advice. Shelters can run the gamut of an interior closet, a special room in the basement that can quickly be run to, or a fully equipped fallout shelter. Which considering the multiple threats that the 21 century offers us, isn’t a bad idea to have. Not at all. </stro Continue reading
ALERT NEWSLETTER – February 2009 Vol. 2 No. 8http://www.alert-alabama.org 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. Now is the time to prepare, don’t wait until the sirens sound. It may be too late then. 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? And, a reminder to all ALERT members, that all responses to the NWS are done on a callout basis. We want and welcome Operational members to take active roles in callouts. But, always coordinate with NWS liaison issuing the callout – Nathan or Russell before responding to the NWS. This a Continue reading
ALERT NEWSLETTER – January 2009 Vol. 2 No. 7 Hi Everyone, I hope you all had a good Christmas & that 2009 treats you well. The first thing I’ll comment on is the Spotterchat. Activity during the last storms has been good & interactive, with, people chatting & good reports coming in. This I’m glad to see. As you probably know, the prototype IEMChat will be terminated on February 3 and replaced by the new NWSChat. So, if you are an Operational Member, please be sure to sign up for a NWSChat account by that date. See https://nwschat.weather.gov On another note, if you are a user of radar provided by the College of Dupage, they have had serious problems with their server, which they are close to resolving. It you haven’t tried the COD radar, once they get it fixed, you should. They provide displays not available on the NWS website. Multiple radar angles, storm relative velocity, storm radial velocity, 1 hour precip, storm total precip, vertical integrated liquid, storm echo tops and more. And, when the NWS site is slow or down due to overload during storms, COD will still be up and will be faster than the NWS site. Continue reading

ALERT / National Weather Service Birmingham Coverage Area

  • ALERT covers the BMX county warning area. Presently, this includes: Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Dallas, Elmore, Etowah, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Jefferson, Lamar, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Marion, Montgomery, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Randolph, Russell, Shelby, St Clair, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Winston