May 2008 Newsletter

Published 05/02/2008 | By WD4NYL

ALERT NEWSLETTER — May 2008 Vol. 1 No. 11 Hi Everyone, May has arrived & we know what May is…. It’s BirmingHamfest Month! ALERT will have a booth there. I’ll be there. And, you better had be there too. I remember my first hamfest back in 1978. I was a Novice & didn’t know really what to expect. But, what I found was a young ham’s version of The Promised Land. I had never seen so many toys, gizmos & equipment. Flashing blinking lights. I like flashing blinking lights. I was broke, of course, as usual…as today…but that didn’t matter. I could touch the stuff anyway. And, so many hams. Some not very pretty, but, hams none-the-less. I passed my Technician test that hamfest. I was trying for my General, but my code was mushy, so the Technician was the consolation prize. But, I loved it. There is aspecial atmosphere to a hamfest, an atmosphere that has never changed through the years. And, so you will find me there, fiddling with knobs, and, drooling a little over the equipment & moaning over prices. Still can’t afford the stuff. But, hey, I can touch it, can’t I? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Mark’s Almanac May is the fifth month & third month of the Roman calendar. Since ancient times the first day of the month, “May Day” has been a time of celebration. In Rome it honored Flora, the goddess of flowers. It isn’t celebrated as much as it once was in the United States, but I, being old as dirt, remember Maypoles, festivals & such. On May the fifth Mexican’s celebrate Cinco De Mayo, the Celebration of Mayonnaise. Ok, maybe I lied. It celebrates Mexico’s 1862 victory over Napoleon III’s forces at Puebla. Rainfall decreases in May as the Bermuda High strengthens & begins rerouting storm systems northward. The center of maximum tornadic activity also shifts northward over the Nation’s Heartland. May is the peak tornado month, with a 42% increase over April’s amount. The door opens to the Gulf of Mexico & Gulf moisture spreads northward over the continent. Eastern Pacific hurricane season begins May 15, and although the North Atlantic hurricane season has not arrived, occasionally a tropical system will form in the Gulf of Mexico. In 110 years there have been 14 named storms. You will notice I said “North Atlantic Hurricane Season”. It used to be taught that hurricanes did not form in the South Atlantic, due to wind shear & other factors. This theory had to be changed when a weak Tropical Storm was spotted by weather satellites off the coast of Angola April 10, 1991. On January 18, 2004 either a weak tropical storm or a strong tropical depression formed southeast of Salvador, Brazil, weakened & moved inland on the 20th as a circulation devoid of convection, and dissipated the next day over Brazil, where it caused heavy rains and flooding. Then in March 2004 a Tropical Cyclone formed & on March 28, just after reaching hurricane strength Tropical Cyclone Catarina hit southeastern Brazil in the state of Santa Catarina, with winds estimated near 112 mph, making it a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. The cyclone killed between 3-10 people and caused at least 350 million of dollars in damage. Brazilian meteorologists at first denied that it was a hurricane, which amused & bewildered the meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center. Finally, the Brazilians admitted that Catarina was indeed a hurricane. Catarina is considered by meteorologists to be a nearly once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, but, who knows? The next year another Hurricane with a similar name would visit our Gulf Coast — Katrina. May’s Full Moon is “Flower Moon” in Native American folklore. ………………………………………………………………………………………. This month’s meeting will be on May 13 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport. Hope to see you there! Mark / WD4NYL President ALERT www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/

Posted in ALERT Newsletter, Amateur Radio

May 2008 Newsletter

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