Warnings – Take Action!

 The National Weather Service will issue Test Tornado Warnings Tuesday between 10:00a.m. and 10:30 a.m., and again between 7:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.  It’s everyone’s job in these drills to test your tornado plans, seeking safe shelter areas.  Review your actions and amend your safety plans if needed.

Brown County Amateur Radio operators plan on conducting a test SKYWARN net this evening on the Brown County 147.300MHz 2 meter repeater at 7:30 p.m.  During this test a "Net Control Station" begins the net and checks in  participating Hams gathering information from them including their Calll Sign, their location and if they are operating on a base station or mobile.  During the net the amateur radio operator report back to Net Control any severe weather events they witness.   That information is relayed through a single amateur radio operator in Brown County who has been designated "Liaison" to another much broader net that is run on the Indianapolis 146.970MHz repeater and covers many counties in central and southern Indiana and is directly monitored by the National Weather Service office in Indianapolis. 

Often you hear on TV or the radio that a "Trained Spotter has reported....."  Quite often that is an amateur radio operator BUT you do not have to be a Ham to become a Trained Spotter.  In fact anyone can become a Trained Spotter either by attending one of the Indianapolis National Weather Service Spotter Training's near you or taking an online course available through MetEd/Comet.  At the Spotter Training you will learn how to contact the NWS and what information you would like for you to submit.   You can all them directly (317) 856-0664, submit a report online or via Facebook or even Twitter using @NWSIndianapolis. 

As they have done every day this week the NWS Indianapolis office has created a document for you to review, today's may be the most important of all. 

Have a look at it here http://www.weather.gov/media/ind/PrepWeeks/Severe/TueFactsWarnings.pdf

Here are a few highlights but be sure to read the entire document

  • You…Be a Force of Nature! Be Weather Ready!
    • Take Action: be an example for others, taking cover, along with your pin designated storm resistant locations
  • The National Weather Service
    • Issues official Warnings when dangerous, damaging weather is immminent and Activates NOAA All-Hazards radio and the Emergency Alert System, sounding alarms on radios, media stations, and pre-set electronic de  Receives damage reports from spotters and relays reports to the media
  • Local Officials
    • Activate Outdoor Warning sirens; deploy responders to damage areas
  • Indiana Department of Homeland Security
    • Activates Emergency Operations Center, coordinates with local officials
  • The American Red Cross
    • May deploy to the IDHS Emergency Operations Center
  • The Media
    • Broadcasts NWS warnings/crawl TV text message; Facebook/Tweet