ALERT NEWSLETTER – June 2018

Hi Everyone,

I hope this finds you well.

Our ALERT elections scheduled for the May meeting have been deferred until the June meeting. So make sure to attend and cast your vote & welcome our new leaders as they lead ALERT into the new ALERT year.

In this month’s newsletter we take a glimpse at the past and then review tropical weather as we enter the hurricane season.

I hope you enjoy!

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To Every Thing There Is A Beginning

Irving Vermilya. You probably have never heard this name, but, it has a special place in Amateur Radio history.

In 1901 an eleven year old boy, Irving Vermilya, heard that Guglielmo Marconi had received the letter S across the Atlantic by wireless. Vermilya, then of Mt. Vernon, NY, was determined to visit Marconi in Newfoundland.

According to a 1938 Radio News article and later accounts, Vermilya’s parents granted him permission to visit Marconi after the family minister, Dr. Charles H. Tyndell, offered to accompany him, and Vermilya traveled to Newfoundland and attended a presentation put on by Marconi.

Marconi took notice of the young man in the midst of scientists and engineers, and gave him a coherer and tapper, which he took home and assembled into a radio receiver.

However, in two 1917 QST articles by Vermilya, he mentions nothing about a trip to Newfoundland or a personal audience with Marconi. Instead, he reports that the minister eventually contacted Marconi and obtained the parts, which he passed along to young Vermilya.

Either way, Vermilya got a receiver from Marconi. There were no transmitters on the air, but Vermilya was assured that the set was working, since he could detect the ringing of doorbells up and down the street.

There were no licenses yet, since there was no governing body in existence to issue them, just an increasing number experimenters both researchers and hobbyists tinkering with the emerging technology.

The operators just made up their own call signs for identification. For example Hiram Percy Maxim made up the call SKN. Vermilya used the call sign VN.
When the government began licensing in 1912, the now 23 year old Vermilya hurried to the Brooklyn Navy Yard to be tested.

To obtain a license one had to demonstrate Morse Code proficiency of 5 words per minute and pass a written exam, including essay type questions, making diagrams of transmitting and receiving equipment and explaining how they worked, and demonstrate knowledge of US and international radio regulations.

Vermilya was examined and having passed this test was issued “Certificate of Skill” number 1 and assigned the call sign 1ZE, and thus became the first licensed Amateur Radio operator in the United States. Why he was issued 1ZE and not 1AA I don’t know.

Who became Alabama’s first Amateur Radio operator is perhaps lost in the fading mists of time, but, there is one person who has my vote.

The Second Annual Wireless Blue Book Of The Wireless Association Of America “Containing A List Of United States And American Wireless Telegraph Stations Including Merchant Vessels, Vessels Of The U.S. Navy, Revenue Cutters, U.S. Amateur Stations…..Corrected To June 1st 1910” lists three amateurs from Alabama:

APW – Andrew P Williams, Mobile AL
JFR – J.F. Rivers, Birmingham, AL
JSB – Joe Scalco, Birmingham AL

In the Third Annual Wireless Blue Book from 1911 the list changes to:

QD – Andrew P Williams, Mobile, AL
SG – Sydney G Roberts, Mobile AL

I suspect that amateurs voluntarily submitted information to this publication, and if they didn’t want to or forgot, they just weren’t included, as there were no Alabama Amateurs were listed in the First Blue Book from May 1909.

With the passage of the Radio Act of 1912, the United States was divided into nine Radio Districts, Districts 1 – 9, with an Amateur call sign consisting of the district number followed by letters. There was no Tenth Call District or “Zero Land” as we call it today, all of those states being included in the Ninth District and there were other slight differences in which state was included in what district as compared to today.

Alabama’s 1913 licensed Amateur Radio population consisted of:

5AB – Joe R. Scalco, Birmingham, AL
5AC – Gilbert G. Budwig Birmingham, AL
5AH – Ben W. Martin, Mobile AL
5AM – Harold S. Brownell Birmingham, AL
5AN – Will O, Watkins, Birmingham AL
5AT – Alwyn Vickers, Montgomery AL

Yes, Alabama was once in the Fifth Call District or “Area”. Alabama remained there until 1928 when for whatever reason we were shifted to the Fourth Call Area. A vestige of those days which has survived is that radiogram traffic sent to and from Alabama’s National Traffic System Section Nets – the Alabama Traffic Net Mike, Alabama Section Net & the Alabama Day Net are routed through RN5 or the Fifth Region Net rather than 4RN, or the Fourth Region Net.

Who gets my vote as Alabama’s first ham? I vote Joe Scalco – JSB as possibly the first unlicensed operator, and most certainly the first licensed Alabama ham – 5AB. (5AA was issued to Eugene Knight of Little Rock Arkansas).

105 years later David E Tolbert of Bay Minette holds the distinction of being Alabama’s newest ham – KN4MOL.

And, so the tradition continues…

(Special Thanks to Ronnie King WX4RON who suggested this article.)

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2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season Begins

The Atlantic Hurricane Season officially begins June 1. NOAA has released their seasonal prediction, which calls for a 75% chance of a “near or above normal” season with 10 – 16 named storms, 5 – 9 hurricanes and 1 – 4 major hurricanes.

As mentioned last month, Colorado State University predicts 14 named storms, 7 of which could become hurricanes this year and 3 storms may reach Category 3 or stronger, with a 63% chance of the continental U.S. getting hit by a major hurricane.

In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really how many storms actually do form, what matters is where they end up arriving. A year with 28 storms that never reach land isn’t overly significant, where a year with only one named storm and it being a repeat of Katrina, Camille or Andrew is.

With the 2018 North Atlantic Hurricane Season beginning it is a good time to review our preparedness plans.

Hurricane Impact & Hurricane Response

Alabama is impacted by hurricanes in three ways:

1. Direct Impact – Where the core of the storm or the rain / wind field actually strikes or passes through a portion of Alabama. Examples being Hurricane’s Fredrick, Opal, Ivan and Katrina.
2. Indirect Impact – where the core is not over Alabama, but the feeder bands are passing through and causing havoc. Rita’s feeder bands being a good example, which dropped 20
tornadoes over west Alabama in a 4-hour period.
3. Distant Impact – A storm is not even near Alabama, but affecting our weather. Such as with Olivia, a Pacific Hurricane which was off Western Mexico. Her moisture was captured by the jet stream, crossed the Sonora desert, the Arklatex region & dumped monsoon type rains on Alabama & Mississippi, causing flooding.

ALERT typically will activate during scenarios 1 & 2. ALERT’s coverage would concentrate on monitoring D-Star directly and using a liaison station to monitor HF offsite on 3.965 MHz or the backup 40-meter frequency of 7.243 MHz.

Then as the storm moves northward into the BMX County Warning Area the focus would then shift to the individual county Skywarn Nets, as we would do during a “normal” callout.

HF Gulf Coast Nets to monitor are:

Primary State ARES Frequencies & Nets for Gulf of Mexico & regular meeting times.

3.965 MHz Alabama Emergency Net Mike 4:00 PM Sunday*
3.940 MHz Florida Amateur Single Sideband Net 6:00 PM
3.975 MHz Georgia Single Sideband Net 7:30 PM
3.910 MHz Louisiana Traffic Net 6:30 PM
3.862 MHz Mississippi Section Phone Net 6:00 PM
3.873 MHz Texas Traffic Net 6:30 PM

* Note that this is also the frequency of the Alabama Traffic Net Mike, meeting daily at 6:30PM Central & Sunday’s at 8:00 AM Central and the Alabama Day Net, which meets daily at 10:00 AM Central Time.

Wide Coverage Nets

14.235 MHz Hurricane Watch Net As Needed
3.935 MHz Central Gulf Coast Hurricane Net 1:00 UTC

The Hurricane Watch Net is only activated when a storm is within 300 miles of a populated land mass. Normally you shouldn’t check into this net, but you only listen. Only check in if you have a legitimate need to do so. A legitimate need being emergency or priority traffic or if the NCS specifically calls for a station in Central Alabama, only then should you pick the microphone up. Occasionally, if there is a lull in activity, they may actually give a call for general check-ins. But, don’t be surprised if they don’t. Helping stations in the affected area is their primary concern.

Once upon a time a, which if I remember correctly was in 1988 when Gilbert, was rearranging Jamaica, the NCS asked “do we have any stations in the affected area, the affected area only?” Some fellow from Zero-land, piped in and very slowly drawled out “This is Kay Zero Que Arr Emmm, Homer over in Tulsa Oklahoma, just wanting to tell you fellers what a fine job, a fine job you fellers are doing. And, if I can be of any help, any help at all just let me know. This is Homer, K0QRM, over in Tulsa Oklahoma on frequency and standing by on the side.”

Fifteen distress calls probably could have been received and handled in the time it took Homer to ooze over “on the side”.

Learn from a bad example. Don’t do this.

Some Internet resources you should have in your toolbox include:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ – The National Hurricane Center out of Coral Gables, FL

http://www.hwn.org/tools/streaming-audio.html – Hurricane Watch Net Streaming Audio.
Note that the audio feed is only active when the net is active.

http://derecho.math.uwm.edu/models/ & http://www.ral.ucar.edu/hurricanes/realtime/current/
– Hurricane Forecast Models

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/TC.html – Satellite imagery and data – worldwide

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/trop-atl.html – Storm centered satellite imagery

Many other resources, including coastal radar picket, Caribbean & Mexican radar,
charts and satellite imagery can be found on my website www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/
and clicking on “Tropics, Charts & Satellites”.

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Hurricane Tracking Gleams And Glints From Mark’s Crystal Ball

I’ve always enjoyed trying to second-guess the National Hurricane Center. It’s fun! Many times our forecasts agree, they have outguessed me an honorable number of times & every now and then, when Divine Providence intervenes, I have beaten them.

The following are some random hints and items I have stored in my dusty brain, which every now and then come into play as I gaze into my tropical crystal ball:

The maximum number of tropical systems that the Atlantic Basin (which includes the Gulf and Caribbean) can simultaneously contain and support is four storms.

If major tropical systems get too close to one another they don’t merge as thunderstorms often do. The upper level winds associated with each storm counteract or buffets each other preventing this from occurring.

If you have a large storm and a smaller storm enters the influence or wind field of the larger storm, the smaller storm will tend to rotate counterclockwise around the primary storm in a process called the Fujiwhara Effect.

If the smaller storm is very weak, say a tropical storm versus a Category 4 storm, it is possible that the smaller storms circulation can be totally disrupted by the larger storm and then it can be absorbed into the larger storms circulation. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNjUSsqJgek&feature=relmfu as Typhoon Ma-On gobbles up Tropical Storm Tokage in 2011.

Tropical systems, for all of their tremendous energy, are totally without an engine or steering mechanism, but are at the mercy of the whims of the upper level winds. A tropical system can spin all it wants to, but unless the storms thunderstorm columns reach high enough to snag the upper level winds, and then act as a sail, the storm is going nowhere fast. If the upper level winds die down, the storm can drift aimlessly for days.

If the storm sits still long enough, it will begin to dissipate due to it stirring up the deeper cooler waters beneath it and it cooling the sea surface temperature below the 80 degree critical threshold needed to sustain a tropical storm. This is “upwelling”. The one exception to this rule is if it is sitting over the Gulf Stream, as the incoming current will continually replenish the warm water beneath the storm.

A well-formed storm will have a perfectly circular Central Dense Overcast or CDO, an area of thunderstorms surrounding the eye wall, with “feeder bands” of thunderstorms spiraling inward counterclockwise, parallel to the storm’s inbound horizontal winds, and “feeding” energy from the warm tropical ocean into the storm.

The winds being drawn into the eye, once arriving, can only go in one direction – up – and in a well formed storm the system will be capped by high pressure, which helps evacuate these winds as they reach the stratosphere. This forms a false cirrus shield of clouds rotating in a clockwise fashion, as the winds are vented outward. If the storm has a tear drop shape or a long plume of clouds extending from the storm, this indicates heavy shearing, which will limit its growth, or shred the circulation. The storm will be veered by the shearing and try to deflect towards the direction of the plume.

A poorly organized storm can have a completely exposed center, with the cloud shield nowhere near the center. Until it starts “stacking up” it will remain a weak storm.

Intense, Category 3 or greater hurricanes will go through a process called an “eyewall replacement cycle”. In this case the eyewall contracts so small that some of the outer rain bands may strengthen and form an outer eyewall, causing the storm to weaken by robbing energy from the inner eyewall and will eventually choke it out completely and replace it, causing the storm to re-intensify.

This is a common occurrence. Less common is when you have a triple eyewall, as was the case with Typhoon June and Hurricane Juliette.

The fastest intensification from a Tropical Storm to a Category 5 Hurricane occurred with Hurricane Wilma in 2006, which in 16 hours went from 70 mph to 155 mph and then vacationed in the Yucatan.

The fastest intensification from a Tropical Depression to a Category 5 Hurricane occurred with Hurricane Felix, which took just 51 hours to bloom and then blessed Nicaragua with its presence in 2007.

Tropical systems cannot penetrate frontal boundaries. If a tropical system is threatening the coast, and you see that a front will be approaching the coast from the West, don’t worry about the coast, as it will either stall the storm, deflect it to the Northeast or as in the case of 2009’s Tropical Storm Danny, it can absorb a weak storm.

When looking at hurricane forecast model ensembles, such as http://derecho.math.uwm.edu/models/ & http://www.ral.ucar.edu/hurricanes/realtime/current/,
you can judge the “confidence” of the models by the grouping of the plotted tracks. If the plots are tightly grouped together, you can have “high confidence” in the reliability of the track and if the timing given by the plots agree, that also. The narrower the spread, the greater the confidence, and the wider the spread, the lesser the confidence. Some tracks will be obviously wrong, those you can dismiss. If the forecast tracks go look like they were written by a drunken spider, with paths going in every direction at once, that storm is heading nowhere fast.

Theoretically Tropical Storms will lose strength over land. The 1997 version of Danny (which came up I-65 reached Birmingham and then turned East heading along I-20 towards Atlanta, as if He knew what he was doing) forgot this and strengthened while over the swamps of South Carolina and then moved into the Atlantic as a rejuvenated system heading for New England. The theory at that time was that the swamps were so warm and humid that the storm “thought” it was over the sea. Now they say it was due to the effects a frontal system closely following the storm. I always preferred the first explanation, as it seemed more logical, if not niftier.

Storms named “Danny” and I are old companions, incidentally. In 1985 I accidentally managed to intercept Hurricane Danny a few hours after it struck Louisiana. I remember the feeder bands passing with heavy rain and gusts, and then it calming and clearing in between waves. “Looks like it can’t decide whether it’s coming or going” said the old guy at a truck stop where I was refueling. I also remember making a ham sandwich for an old dog at a rest stop. Old Shep looked hungry, so I fixed him one. He woofed it down, thanked me kindly and then disappeared into the mist.

If a storm strikes just West of Alabama, expect sorry weather. If it strikes just East of Alabama, expect dry weather and lowering humidity, as the storm drags the moisture away with it.

If a 120 MPH storm is moving North at 20 MPH the wind field around the eye will be effected as follows. The winds on the Eastern side combine and are in effect 140 MPH, while the winds to the West subtract and are in effect 100 MPH. This is the “fast moving hurricane rule”.

If the Eastern Pacific Basin is active, the Atlantic Basin will be quiet & if the Atlantic Basin is active the Eastern Pacific Basin will be quiet.

Category 5 storms have never occurred in both the Atlantic & Pacific Basins in the same year.

Hurricanes can cross Central America from either the Atlantic or Pacific Basins, enter the other Basin and restrengthen and be renamed. The last being in 1996 when Category 1 Hurricane Cesar which scraped Northern South America, crossed Central America & restrenghtened into Category 4 Hurricane Douglas.

Then there is the case of 1961’s Hurricane Hattie, which formed in the Caribbean, stuck Central America on Halloween, dissipated, then after reaching the Pacific, her remnants helped generate Tropical Storm Simone on November 1. Simone then turned Northwest striking Southern Mexico on November 2, dissipated and her remnants crossed Mexico, entering the Gulf of Mexico. These remnants in turn helped generate Tropical Storm Inga, which dissipated on November 8.

Alphabetical name position can’t be used as an indicator of possible storm strength. Andrew and Opal, both unruly guests, with names toward the opposite ends of the alphabet, are good examples.

Never underestimate the potential impacts of late season storms. Category 5 Hurricane Mitch was active from October 22 – November 5, 1998, with maximum sustained winds of 180 MPH. This storm struck Central America, Yucatán Peninsula & South Florida causing 6.2 billion dollars in damage and caused 11,000 deaths.

Remember that winds do not blow OUT of a hurricane; they are drawn INTO the storm in a spiraling motion. By factoring in the Coriolis Effect of the Earth’s rotation and the counter-effects of surface friction you can determine the general direction of any tropical storm or non-tropical low pressure center using the surface wind direction as follows:

Wind Direction Storm Center Location

South North West
Southeast West
East Southwest
Northeast South
North Southeast
Northwest East
West Northeast
Southwest North

Calm winds suddenly occurring during a hurricane indicates the eye is over you. The winds will return just as suddenly, often stronger in the opposite direction.

My sister’s family was living at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines in 1974, when Typhoon Bidang passed directly over. When the winds suddenly died down they knew they were in the eye. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and opening it she found a delivery van with the furniture she had ordered. The Filipinos crew unloaded everything, said “thank you” and drove off into the darkness as the rear of the eyewall appeared and began blowing at full force.

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NHC Hurricane Tracking Chart PDF’s

Here are handy hurricane tracking charts from the National Hurricane Center.

For the Atlantic Ocean: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/tracking_chart_atlantic.pdf
For the Pacific Ocean: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/tracking_chart_epacific.pdf

Someone once asked me “why do you bother tracking the Pacific ones?” For practice, so that when the Atlantic ones do appear you are already ahead of the game experience wise.

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2018 Tropical Cyclone Names

The 2018 North Atlantic Basin Tropical Cyclone names are Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby, Ernesto, Florence, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Kirk, Leslie, Michael, Nadine, Oscar, Patty, Rafael, Sara, Tony, Valerie & William.

Note that the names are used on a six-year rotation & that this list will return in 2024. Only names of catastrophic or damaging storms are retired. This is why you will never have another Andrew, Betsy, Camille, Fredrick, Gilbert, Ivan, Katrina or Opal, to name a few ne’er-do-well storms.

If so many storms occur that the list is depleted, as occurred in 2005, the storm names revert to the Greek alphabet. In 2005 five Greek Alphabet storms occurred the last being Tropical Storm Zeta, which formed on December 29, 2005.

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Mark’s Almanac

Originally the fourth Roman Month, June at one time had 29 days, until Julius Caesar in a glow of inspiration added the 30th day.

What June was named for is uncertain. Some say it was named for Juno, wife & sister of Jupiter. Juno was the goddess of marriage and a married couple’s household, so some consider it good luck to be married in this month, which is why June has become a month for so many marriages.

The beginning of meteorological Summer is June 1.

Storm activity retains many of the characteristics of spring, but more and more the pattern takes on the summer pattern of pop-up thunderstorms.

Hurricane season begins, June 1, however June hurricanes are usually small and of minor intensity, occurring roughly once every two years.

The centers for June Tropical Cyclone activity are the extreme Western Caribbean, with the storm tracks striking the Yucatan or veering toward Western Florida & the Southwestern Gulf of Mexico, with other storm tracks aiming toward the Mexican mainland.

 

The center of maximum tornadic activity shifts northward over Kansas and Iowa. Activity in Texas and Oklahoma dies down. There is a 5% decrease in tornadic activity over the May average & by June 4th 50% of the years tornadoes have occurred.

Days continue to grow longer as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon increases from 78.5 degrees at the beginning of the month to maximum of 79.9 on Summer Solstice on June 21 and then lowering to 79.6 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight increases from 14 hours 14 minutes on June 1 to the maximum daylight of 14 hours 22 minutes 27 seconds at Summer Solstice on June 21 and then decreases to 14 hours 20 minutes on June 30.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

June 1 Sunrise 5:38 AM Sunset 7:52 PM
June 15 Sunrise 5:37 AM Sunset 7:58 PM
June 30 Sunrise 5:40 AM Sunset 8:01 PM

Looking towards the sky, Mercury is lost in the glow of sunrise. On June 5 Mercury will be at “Superior Conjunction”, or on the exact opposite side of the Sun from Earth and the next day will be at “perihelion” his closest approach to the Sun.

Brilliant Venus, magnitude -3.9 in Gemini shines brightly in the west-northwest during evening twilight just after reaching her highest point in the evening sky. Venus is a gibbous disk 81% sunlit.

Mars, magnitude -1.2 has moved from Sagittarius into Capricorn and rises around midnight.
Mars is brightening rapidly now, on its way to an unusually close approach to Earth, or opposition in late July. He is already slightly bigger than at its poorest oppositions.

Jupiter, shining very brightly at magnitude -2.5 is well up in the south-southeast as twilight fades. He is highest in the south around 11 PM or Midnight, presenting the sharpest views in a telescope.

Saturn, magnitude +0.3 just above the Sagittarius Teapot, rises in the southeast soon after the end of twilight and stands highest in the south around 3 a.m.

On June 27 Saturn will be at opposition and his face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. He will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long.

This is the best time to view and photograph Saturn and its moons. A telescope will allow you to see Saturn’s rings and the moon Titan.

Uranus is hidden in the glow of the dawn.

Neptune, magnitude 7.9, in Aquarius, is low in the east-southeast before the beginning of dawn.

The Moon will be at Apogee, or her farthest point from the Earth on June 2 at a distance of 251852 Miles.

New Moon will occur June 13 at 2:44 PM CDT or 7:44 UTC. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

The Moon will be at Perigee, or her closest point from the Earth on June 14 at a distance of 223837 Miles.

Summer Solstice will occur at 5:07 AM CDT or 10:07 UTC on June 21. The North Pole of the earth will be tilted toward the Sun, which will have reached its northernmost position in the sky and will be directly over the Tropic of Cancer at 23.44 degrees north latitude. This is the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

The June Bootids Meteor Shower will occur from June 26th until July 2nd. It peaks on June 27th. Normally the shower is very weak, with a Zenith Hourly Rate or ZHR of 1 or 2, but occasional outbursts produce a hundred or more meteors per hour. The source of the June Bootids is Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke, which orbits the Sun once every 6.37 years.

This shower will be largely washed out by the Full Moon

June’s Full Moon is “Strawberry Moon” in Native American folklore. This will occur on June 27 at 11:53 PM CDT or 4:53 UTC June 28. It is called “Strawberry Moon” for it signals the time to start harvesting strawberries, as it is peak strawberry ripening time. Other names are “Rose Moon” & “Honey Moon”.

The Moon will be at Apogee, or her farthest point from the Earth again on June 29 at a distance of 252315 Miles.

3730 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of May 24, per NASA’s
Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

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

If for some reason you cannot attend the meeting in person, you can still participate via telephone. The teleconference number is 1-877-951-0997 & and the participant code is 741083.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter