ALERT NEWSLETTER – September 2019

Hi everyone,

I will let you in on a closely guarded secret. Promise to tell no one? Fall is soon approaching.

My grass has been as golden brown as the temperatures reached the century mark, but, now with the recent rains there are signs of green hope springing through the withered mats.

Soon the Fall season and the events that come with it will arrive and we will enjoy the not too hot, not too cold days of the Goldilocks of seasons.

Football, camping, cookouts and a slight crispness in the air – do I sound like I am ready for it?

Whatever you are looking forward to, I hope you have a fun safe Late Summer / Early Fall Season.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Hurricane Dorian Amateur Radio Frequencies

As Hurricane Dorian affects the Bahamas and the Southeastern US, the following net frequencies could and should be active as the storm threatens these areas.

Hurricane Watch Net
7.268 MHz LSB & 14.265 MHz USB

Streaming audio feed information:
https://www.hwn.org/tools/streaming-audio.html

Florida Phone Traffic Net & South Florida Traffic Net
3.940 MHz LSB

North Florida Phone Net & North Florida ARES Net
3.950 MHz LSB

Georgia Single Sideband Net / Georgia ARES Emergency Frequency
3.975 LSB

If the storm enters the Gulf of Mexico, the following frequencies will come into play.

Central Gulf Coast Hurricane Net
3.935 MHz LSB

Alabama Traffic Net Mike / Alabama ARES Net
3.965 MHz LSB

If you listen to these nets, unless the Net Control asks for general check ins or for stations with
specific capabilities or for a specific location, DO NOT TRANSMIT.

While we may want to feel we are “part of the action”, unneeded transmissions only hinder net operations, and in an extreme emergency can cost lives by blocking emergency calls or delaying emergency response.

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Enhancing Situational Awareness Capabilities

It was a clear fall day as I arrived at work, which at that time was in the electronics department at Sears. The day was an unusual day, as the sales staffs from the three area stores – Fairfield, Galleria and Century Plaza were to meet at the Century Plaza store to be introduced to the new Christmas electronics products presented by sometimes overly enthusiastic sales representatives.

Sometimes the presentations would be interesting, sometimes not and I remember the one hope I would leave with is “if you advertise it, please make sure you actually ship it to us”. For if anywhere along the supply line, whether at the overseas factory, the ship or seaport, the trucking companies or distribution center, the product didn’t arrive, yours truly would catch the grief, since it was most certainly my fault. And explaining that an earthquake levelled the factory or that the ad featuring the worthless $5 gizmo was printed five months earlier in Chicago would do little to ease the hellacious barrage.

Arriving at my store’s break room, I glanced at the TV to see one of the towers of the World Trade Center with smoke billowing from the side. Turning the sound up I learned that a plane had crashed into the building and my mind went back to the 1945 crash of a B-25 bomber into the Empire State Building. Everyone thought it was an accident. Then the second plane came in.

For the majority of people, whether it was the destruction of the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia, assassination attempts, military actions or any other major news, the public’s first notice was “We interrupt this program for a Special Report from ABC News.”

Words that still make me cringe.

By 2013 Smartphones were now in vogue, but, mine was still dumb, so I learned at my new job about the Boston Marathon bombing three hours after the event. This let me know that major events could be taking place without me having a clue or warning, leaving me without any lead time to take appropriate action, if needed, such as head home, take cover, keep your eyes peeled, etc.

My search for information on the way home also validated an opinion I had formed that so called “stimulating news talk radio” was practically useless for finding information during breaking news events, for I found plenty of talk, but, not much news and the banter was not particularly stimulating either.

After getting a smarter phone, to counter this shortcoming, I started organizing apps for news, weather, communications, and loving the outdoors, navigation. But, for this article we will concentrate on the news, communications and weather sources.

When one is at the NWS Forecast Office in Birmingham, one will see six large screen TV’s mounted together on the back wall with programs from six TV stations, such as ABC3340 or WSFA in Montgomery, playing in the background.

This is their “Situational Awareness Display”.

This allows the meteorologists to see what is happening in various locations within their County Warning Areas. If a station’s tower cam is showing a tornado or if a hurricane is making landfall or a tornado touchdown has occurred they can watch the coverage live so that they, along with their normal equipment and resources, can better assess the situation to make the best decisions possible.

My phone and my laptop are my “Situational Awareness Displays”.

On my phone, which is an I-Phone, I have these resources organized in folders. On an I-phone you can create a folder by letting your finger rest on an icon, which will then wiggle and dragging it on top of another Icon. A new folder is then formed which once you tap you can rename. Three I have are “News”, “Weather” and “Communications.”

In the News Folder I installed apps from ABC3340, WVTM, WBRC, CBS42, CBS, AP News, CNN and the BBC.

Now, I try not to venture into politics with these newsletters, as I hate drama and arguments, and I realize that some of these sources may not be everyone’s cup of tea, due to perceived bias, either right wing or left.

I also realize, what many forget, that this is by no means a new complaint. I remember in the 1960’s and 70’s hearing my parents and their friends complaining that the news anchors of those days – Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Frank Reynolds and “that Communist Walter Cronkite” were “as biased as they could be”.

I don’t remember what poor old Walter had done. It might have had something to do with Nixon or Vietnam, I don’t know. I was a kid, and in those days while kids were aware of events happening around them, they weren’t expected to be weighted down with the woes of the world, as are the children of today. We were just expected to be kids, and we had more than enough of our own woes just dealing with schoolyard schmucks and measles.

Besides, if the grownups couldn’t figure the mess out, why should a 10 year old be expected to do so?

So with news bias just realize that nothing ever changes except the names. Thus it has been, and thus it shall always be until the end of time.

Drifting back on topic, I have these apps set to alert me for major events, some feature audible signals, some don’t.

For the Weather Folder, the setup is slightly different for I set up internet shortcuts as well as downloaded apps.

To create a shortcut, go to Safari and type in the web address. After the website loads, tap on the share icon at the bottom of the screen. A list with “copy”, “print” and such will appear near the bottom of the screen. Swipe this to the left and the “add to home screen” icon will appear. Tap this and give the website a name in the first text field and then tap Add from the top right.

Weather related apps in the folder are Earthquake, Quakefeed, the Weather app that came with the phone, and Windy.

The earthquake apps give real-time alerts and the Windy app displays the wind streams over North America, and can be repositioned and zoomed. See https://www.windy.com for the computer version to try it out.

The websites I include are:

https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/al.php?x=1 All Alabama Watches, Warnings and Advisories.

https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/radar.php?rid=bmx&overlays=11101111&product=N0R&loop=yes
NWS Ridge Radar from Birmingham

https://weather.cod.edu/satrad/nexrad/index.php?type=BMX-N0Q-0-6 College of Dupage Radar…..slice up thunderstorms with four selectable beam angles, see cloud top heights, vertical integrated liquid products…

https://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/mesoanalysis/new/mobile.php Provides detailed tools and analysis of atmospheric conditions.

https://nwschat.weather.gov/live/?nomap
NWSChat Live to access NWSchat.

https://weather.im/iembot/
NWS text products. Choose the NWS Office from a dropdown Menu.

For Communications my primary tools are Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook I am in contact with friends and family and also follow the NWS Birmingham, the National Hurricane Center, other Government entities, news outlets and groups.

On Twitter, which I rarely tweet on, I follow the NWS Birmingham, the National Hurricane Center, FEMA Region 4, James Spann, Brian Peters, John DeBlock, Wes Wyatt, JP Dice, Jerry Tracy and other meteorologists. Overkill perhaps? Hardly. Some of the best and most timely information I receive is via Twitter.

I am also on MEWE and Instagram.

Now as for the laptop, the world is at my fingertips, as is my website https://weatherlynx.webs.com/ which as its description says, was “created in 2003….designed to give quick access to weather tools for emergency & planning purposes.” It is basically a overstuffed directory of what I consider “great” websites.

I use to get user statistics and found it was being accessed from all over the world. Which I assume is still occurring, and is nifty, I think.
With these resources at hand I can keep my finger on the pulse of the world and be aware of potentially serious situations, whether they are occurring across the globe or across the street.

One final word on Situational Awareness, once a gentleman asked me a question, which I answered. He said “what?” and I answered again. “WHAT?” he said impatiently. Again I answered. Finally on the third time he very angrily looked up from his smartphone, jerked the blaring earbuds out of his ears and yet again I patiently answered him.

Anyone could do anything to or around him and he was so engrossed in fantasyland that he would have been completely unaware until it was too late.

Don’t be like him. In this day and age, if never before, pay attention to the world around you.

It may keep you in “The Land Of The Living.”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Mark’s Almanac

September is the ninth month of the year and the seventh month of the Roman calendar, which is where the month gets its name.

Temperatures are still hot at the beginning of the month, but, by months end, fall will definitely be felt.

Noticeable in September will be the thickening of the cat’s fur, as she begins growing her winter coat & the drift of Yellow Giant Sulphur Butterflies as they migrate towards Florida.

Weather starts shifting from the summer to autumn pattern and then back again. Storm activity resembles the August pattern, but the Bermuda High starts shifting southward and begins weakening, which weakens the blocking effect that has hampered fronts attempting to invade from the northwest.

September is the peak of the hurricane season, the actual peak being on September 10. This peak coincides with the time of “syzygy”, when the effects of the solar and lunar gravity and autumnal equinox combine to provide the highest astronomical tides of the year. Add a hurricane’s storm surge on top of this and you can have incredibly destructive flooding.

From 1851 – 2018 there have been 587 Tropical Storms and 407 hurricanes, 112 of which made landfall in the United States.

Some notable September hurricanes are:

The Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which was a Category 4 Storm whose storm surge overwhelmed Galveston Island, killing 8000 people, and is still the deadliest weather disaster in US history.

The Labor Day Hurricane of 1936, the most intense storm to strike the US, was a Category 5 storm which moved through the Florida Keys and along West Florida, overturning trains and literally sandblasting people to death.

Ivan, the category 3 storm which struck Alabama & Florida in 2004, caused tremendous damage to Gulf Shores and extensive damage to the state’s electrical grid. At the height of the outages, Alabama Power reported 489,000 subscribers had lost electrical power—roughly half of its subscriber base.

Rita, a category 3 storm which struck the Texas – Louisiana border in 2005, and, despite the distance, dropped 22 tornadoes over Western Alabama.

It is entirely possible and is now in fact predicted, that 2019 could be a “back loaded” season with the majority of the storms occurring in the latter portion of the system.

We have Dorian right now. How many brothers and sisters will he invite to the party?

Days continue to grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 64.9 degrees at the beginning of the month to 53.6 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight decreases from 12 hours 52 minutes on August 1 to 11 hours 53 minutes on August 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

September 1 Sunrise 6:21 AM Sunset 7:13 PM
September 15 Sunrise 6:30 AM Sunset 6:55 PM
September 31 Sunrise 6:41 AM Sunset 6:33 PM

Looking skyward, at the beginning of the month Mercury, is hidden in the glare of the Sun and pass behind the Sun reaching “Superior Conjunction” on September 3, when Mercury and the Earth will be on opposite sides of the sun.

By midmonth he will have emerged in the evening sky and on the 28th he will be near Spica, the brightest star in Virgo.

Venus is hidden behind the glare of the Sun.

Mars will pass behind the Sun on September 2.

Jupiter, magnitude –2.3, between the feet of Ophiuchus, is the white dot hanging in the south-southwest as twilight fades away.

Saturn, magnitude +0.3, in Sagittarius, is the steady, pale yellowish “star” in the south-southeast during and after dusk.

Uranus, magnitude 5.8, in Aries, is high in the south just before the beginning of dawn.

Neptune, magnitude 7.8, in Aquarius, is well up in the southeast by 11 p.m. and highest in the south by 2 a.m.

The blue giant planet will be at its closest approach to Earth or “Opposition”, 2,689,200,000 miles, on September 9. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long.

Due to its extreme distance from Earth, it will only appear as a tiny blue dot in all but the most powerful telescopes.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on September 13, when she will be 252511 miles from Earth.

September’s Full Moon will occur September 13 at 11:34 PM CDT or 4:34 UTC on September 14. This month’s moon is “Full Corn Moon” in Native American folklore because corn is harvested this time of year.

This year it is also “Harvest Moon”. Harvest moon get its name because the moon is larger and seems to rise at almost the same time every night, which allowed harvesting to continue on into the night.

Most believe that Harvest Moon is always in September; however this isn’t always the case. Harvest Moon is actually the full moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox, and so occasionally it can occur with October “Hunters Moon”.

Since this month’s Full Moon occurs at Apogee, it will be a “Micromoon”, which is opposite of a Supermoon. Also called “Minimoon”, “Micro Full Moon” or “Apogee Moon”, this Full Moon will appear slightly smaller than a normal Full Moon.

Fall begins at Autumnal Equinox on September 23 at 2:50 AM CDT or 7:50 UTC, when the Sun crosses directly over the equator and night and day is approximately the same length throughout the world. For the Southern Hemisphere it is Vernal Equinox, the first day of Spring.

One term that occasionally pops up is “equinoctial storms”. Which are severe storms in North America and the UK that supposedly accompany the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Where this belief originated is obscure. Some say perhaps from the 1700’s when sailors were greeted by West Indies hurricanes, or due to the coincidence of the first fall severe storms sometimes coming in the latter half of September. At any rate, statistics show no evidence to support the belief.

On this date, if there is sufficient solar activity, and you are away from city lights, the aurora may possibly be seen, as the Equinox dates are the two most favored times of the year for auroral sightings.

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on September 7, when she will be 222,328 miles from Earth.

New Moon occurs September 28 at 1:26 PM CDT or 18:26 UTC when the Moon will on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. 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.

High in the Southern night sky an asterism or a group of stars appearing clustered together, but not actually gravitationally bound will be seen that resembles a teapot. This is the Teapot of Sagittarius.

To the naked eye, the Teapot is roughly the size of your fist at arm’s length. Above the spout of the Teapot lies a band of light, the Large Sagittarius Star Cloud. A pair of binoculars will reveal a sea of stars and faint grayish patches, the largest of which is the Lagoon Nebula. When you look upon these nebulae you are seeing stars in the process of being born.

The spout, which is tilting and pouring to the right, also points towards the galactic center of the Milky Way, located just beyond the Large Sagittarius Star cloud, but largely hidden by the dust clouds, which lie along the plane of the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy.

4043 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of August 15, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/.

Incidentally, at a recent event at the University Of Colorado, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said “Just so you know, in my view, Pluto is a planet.

You can write that the NASA Administrator declared Pluto a planet again. I’m sticking by that, it’s the way I learnt it, and I’m committed to it,”

Though what he said may not count, I happen to agree with him.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

This month’s meeting will be on September 10 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 NEW teleconference number is 1-866-231-8384 & and the conference code is
2056215645#.
Hope to see you there!
Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database