FW: Weather Warnings Public Information Statement

Thu Feb 7 06:31:46 PST 2008

Good Morning to all,
I am sorry I have not been on top of this, but I felt that today's
message needed to be sent out to those who may not listen to
the weather radio 24/7 or do not get emails, like this one, from
one of several weather related email reflectors. This email
comes from the weather email group on yahoo call WCF-SKYWARN-WARNINGS
and is a direct feed from the National Weather Network, please
forgive me I forgot the name of it at the time of writing this,
but there is data frequency (138.something, below the 2 meter ham band) 
that this information is public source, and is piped directly to this
email reflector as a free service.

Please note Friday's comment, STATEWIDE TORNADO DRILL AT 10:10 am
(of course weather permitting) so chances are you will or might:
A) Hear your home / work weather alert radio go off
B) Hear from the local repeaters in the area that have the SAME WX-RADIO
	alert receiver attached to the repeater going off
C) Hear your AM/FM/TV/CABLE/SATELLITE service issue the alert
D) Receive a SMS / EMAIL Text message

Again, it will be noted that it is a 'DRILL' at the beginning of the
message.

For the Amateurs who have Skywarn Spotter training, I have not had
a chance to find out if WX4TOR (Tampa Bay Weather Office, Ruskin Fl.)
will be on the NI4CE repeater Friday when the drill is commenced, but
if they are, you can monitor the Pebbledale repeater, 442.825 pl 100.0 Hz,
for any information that passed out to the Amateur Community within
the West Central Florida Warning Area served by NWO Ruskin, not referring
to the WCF ARRL Section, but the counties served by NOAA Weather Radio
Transmitters. 

WC4PEM VHF and UHF repeaters, 146.985 / 444.950, has a CAT 'SAME' WX-200
receiver
that is tuned to 162.500 (Highlands County Tower) and serves Highlands and
Polk.
Any alerts for Polk County will automatically be broadcasted over the
repeater.
I can not answer for K4LKL 146.685 at this time, I am not sure if one was
hooked
up to the Cat-1000 or not.

Thanks for taking time to read this.

Evans Mitchell
KD4EFM
Polk ARES E.C.

-----Original Message-----
From: WCF-SKYWARN-WARNINGS at yahoogroups.com
[mailto:WCF-SKYWARN-WARNINGS at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Times Weather
Server
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 8:42 AM
Subject: Weather Warnings Public Information Statement

NOUS42 KTBW 071341
PNSTBW
FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-080000-

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
841 AM EST THU FEB 7 2008

...HAZARDOUS WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK CONTINUES THROUGH FRIDAY...
...TODAY'S TOPIC IS HURRICANES AND FLOODING...

THE FOLLOWING HAZARDOUS WEATHER TOPICS REMAIN TO BE DISCUSSED...

-TODAY............HURRICANES AND FLOODING 
-FRIDAY...........TEMPERATURE EXTREMES AND WILD FIRES 
AND THE STATEWIDE TORNADO DRILL AT 1010 AM EST

...OVERVIEW OF THE 2007 SEASON...

THE 2007 HURRICANE SEASON WAS FAIRLY QUIET...
HAVING 13 NAMED STORMS...WITH 6 BECOMING HURRICANES AND 2 
BECOMING MAJOR HURRICANES.
THE ONLY STORM TO IMPACT WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST 
FLORIDA WAS TROPICAL STORM BARRY. THE MAIN IMPACT 
FROM THIS SYSTEM WAS BENEFICIAL RAINFALL...
WITH COASTAL COUNTIES RECEIVING 2 TO 5 INCHES ACROSS THE AREA.

FOR FULL DETAILS OF THE 2007 HURRICANE SEASON...GO TO THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE:

NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER DETAILED SUMMARIES:
HTTP://WWW.NHC.NOAA.GOV/2007ATLAN.SHTML

AND CLICK ON THE STORM NAME FROM THE LIST.

...HURRICANE DANGERS...

HURRICANE INTENSITY IS EXPRESSED BY RELATING WIND 
SPEEDS AND POTENTIAL DAMAGE. THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE 
RANGES FROM CATEGORY 1 (MINOR TO MODERATE DAMAGE) TO 
CATEGORY 5 (CATASTROPHIC DAMAGE). THE CHANGE FROM ONE 
CATEGORY TO THE NEXT IS EXPONENTIAL...NOT LINEAR. 
FOR EXAMPLE...A CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE WILL NORMALLY 
CAUSE MORE THAN 100 TIMES THE DAMAGE OF A CATEGORY 1.

TORNADOES ARE A COMMON OCCURRENCE WITH LANDFALLING HURRICANES. 
MOST OCCUR WITH THE OUTER RAIN BANDS...AND DEVELOP WHEN 
FRICTIONAL CONVERGENCE INTERCEPTS THE ROTATING PRECIPITATION AREA. 
HURRICANE- SPAWNED TORNADOES ARE GENERALLY LESS INTENSE AND MORE 
SHORT LIVED THAN THOSE IN ROTATING SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. HOWEVER...
THEY CAN BE DIFFICULT TO DETECT WHILE ENSHROUDED IN TORRENTIAL RAIN.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS CAN EASILY DESTROY POORLY CONSTRUCTED 
BUILDINGS AND MOBILE HOMES. LIGHTWEIGHT OUTDOOR ITEMS (SUCH AS LAWN
FURNITURE)...
ROOFING MATERIAL...AND POORLY FASTENED SIGNS CAN BECOME MISSILES 
IN A HURRICANE. TREES AND POWER LINES SUSTAIN EXTENSIVE DAMAGE 
IN ANY HURRICANE...AND DANGEROUS STORMS (CATEGORY 3 AND
HIGHER) CAN CAUSE LONG-LASTING DAMAGE TO URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE.

THE FOLLOWING ARE HIGH WIND PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS THAT 
CAN BE TAKEN NOW BY ALL RESIDENTS:
- FIND OUT IF YOUR HOME MEETS CURRENT BUILDING CODE 
REQUIREMENTS FOR HIGH WINDS. STRUCTURES BUILT TO 
MEET OR EXCEED CODE HAVE A SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER CHANCE TO SURVIVE.
- PROTECT YOUR WINDOWS BY INSTALLING COMMERCIAL SHUTTERS...PREPARING
5/8 INCH PLYWOOD PANELS...AND/OR INSTALLING HURRICANE WINDOW FILM.
BE SURE TO ALSO INSTALL ADEQUATE FASTENERS OR ANCHORING DEVICES.
- IF YOU DO NOT LIVE IN A MOBILE HOME...
DESIGNATE AN INTERIOR ROOM WITH NO WINDOWS AS A 'SAFE ROOM'.
- BRACE GARAGE DOORS TO WITHSTAND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS. 
GARAGE DOORS ARE OFTEN THE FIRST FEATURE OF A SINGLE FAMILY HOME TO FAIL.
- ASSESS YOUR LANDSCAPING...THEN PREPARE IT. 
THIS INCLUDES TRIMMING DEAD WOOD AND WEAK BRANCHES 
FROM ALL TREES AND CUTTING DOWN ANY DYING OR DEAD 
TREES AND BUSHES. IF LANDSCAPING...CONSIDER MATERIALS 
OTHER THAN GRAVEL OR SMALL ROCKS.

STORM SURGE IS THE GREATEST THREAT TO LIFE AND PROPERTY 
ALONG THE IMMEDIATE COASTLINE WITH A LANDFALLING HURRICANE. 
STORM SURGE IS CREATED WHEN A HURRICANE'S STRONGEST WINDS 
BLOW ONTO THE COAST AS THE STORM'S CENTER MOVES ONSHORE. 
AS WATER BECOMES SHALLOWER CLOSE TO THE BEACHES...THE WATER 
PILES UP AND IS DRIVEN INLAND. HOW MUCH SURGE WILL OCCUR 
AND HOW FAR INLAND IT WILL PUSH DEPENDS ON MANY FACTORS...
INCLUDING THE STRENGTH OF THE HURRICANE...ITS FORWARD SPEED 
AND THE SHAPE OF THE COASTLINE. HOWEVER...THE EFFECTS OF 
STORM SURGE DECREASE RAPIDLY AS YOU MOVE INLAND. THIS IS 
WHY IT IS ESSENTIAL TO KNOW YOUR EVACUATION ZONE AND TO 
FOLLOW ORDERS FROM LOCAL OFFICIALS WHEN THE SUNCOAST IS IN DANGER OF STORM
SURGE.

FRESHWATER FLOODING IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MORE THAN HALF 
THE FATALITIES FROM TROPICAL CYCLONES IN THE UNITED STATES. 
INLAND FLOODING CAN BE A CATASTROPHIC THREAT TO COMMUNITIES 
WELL INLAND FROM THE COAST AS TORRENTIAL TROPICAL RAINS 
PERSIST AND THE WATER DRAINS AND COLLECTS INTO AREA LAKES AND RIVERS.

THE FOLLOWING ARE FRESHWATER FLOOD PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS 
THAT CAN BE TAKEN NOW BY ALL RESIDENTS:
- LEARN YOUR VULNERABILITY TO FLOODING BY DETERMINING 
THE ELEVATION OF YOUR PROPERTY.
- EVALUATE YOUR INSURANCE COVERAGE; AS DEVELOPMENT CHANGES,
SO TO FLOOD PLAINS. IF YOU ARE IN A FLOOD AREA, CONSIDER WHAT
 MITIGATION MEASURES YOU CAN TAKE NOW.
- IF YOU LIVE IN A FLOOD PRONE AREA, ACQUIRE MATERIALS 
SUCH AS SANDBAGS, PLYWOOD, PLASTIC SHEETING, LUMBER, SHOVELS, 
WORK BOOTS AND GLOVES. CONTACT YOUR LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 
OFFICE TO LEARN HOW TO CONSTRUCT PROPER PROTECTIVE ELEMENTS 
AROUND YOUR HOME.
- TEST DRINKING WATER FOR POTABILITY; WELLS SHOULD BE PUMPED
 AND TESTED AS WELL.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT HURRICANE SAFETY AND FLOODING...
PLEASE VISIT THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES:

HTTP://WWW.FLORIDADISASTER.ORG/KIDS/INDEX2.HTM
HTTP://HURRICANES.NOAA.GOV/PDF/HURRICANEBOOK.PDF
HTTP://WWW.NHC.NOAA.GOV

$$

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