The SKYWARN
Program Across Middle Tennessee
First
and foremost, attend a SKYWARN Spotter
Class.
A
vital part of operations during severe weather is contact with weather
spotters in the field. The National Weather Service office in Nashville
uses amateur radio as one method of communicating with spotter and
emergency management organizations, and utilize the station callsign
K4OHX.
The
National Weather Service, in cooperation with local and state emergency
management and amateur radio groups across Middle Tennessee, have
developed a network of repeaters to pass warning and radar information
to the spotter groups, and to receive real-time reports of severe
weather from the spotters. The system is called the MTEARS Repeater
Link System.
These
repeaters serve as a "liaison net" during severe weather. That is
that the individual storm spotters continue to use their local frequencies
and report weather conditions to their local organization. When
an organization receives a report of a tornado, funnel cloud or
other severe weather criteria (hail that is 0.75 inches in diameter
or larger, or winds greater than 57 mph), a liaison from the local
spotter organization relays the report to the National Weather Service.
Amateur radio operators at the National Weather Service Office will
also give warning, weather summaries, and radar information to the
liaisons, who in turn pass the information on to their local spotter
network.
Spotters
and citizens are encouraged to monitor these frequencies, but to
limit the traffic on this network, please report severe weather
to your local spotter groups instead of on these frequencies.
A
number of meteorologists at the National Weather Service Nashville
office are amateur radio operators and communicate with the spotters
on the MTEARS Repeater Link System.
Are
you interested in becoming a weather spotter? Here
is some information about how to get started in tornado and thunderstorm
spotting.
Amateur
Radio Spotter Links |
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