Clarke County Amateur Radio Emergency Service

SkyWarn Exercise

June 2, 2007

Click here for the June 2, 2007 SkyWarn Exercise AAR in WORD format

Overview
On Saturday, June 2, the Clarke County ARES conducted a SkyWarn Drill at the request of the Peachtree National Weather Service.
This request was directed at all ARES Emergency Coordinators. The information gained from the exercises would provide the NWS
with information concerning the number of potential SkyWarn volunteers that would report through their local ARES Net.
On Sunday, June 3, at 6:00 pm. the number of SkyWarn check-ins for each county were reported and recorded during the Georgia
ARES state-wide net. Procedures In preparation for the exercise an e-mail was sent to all Clarke County ARES members requesting that they carry out the following
procedures to prepare for the drill:
1. Visit the n4zra.com website for a copy of the SkyWarn script.
2. Answer the survey questions at the end of the e-mail
3. Send an e-mail with your answers to the survey to n4zra1@bellsouth.net.
4. Check your e-mail again later for an e-mail that will have your list of weather events and time of occurrence of each event.
Use your own location for the report.
5. Look over the events you received and decide what should and should not be reported during the drill.
Each message should begin with "This is a drill, test message"
6. I will start a net at 7:15 pm under condition Yellow and take anyone
who wants to check-in early. 7. The actual drill will start at 7:30 pm. The Net Control Station will announce the time every so often. This time frame may or may not follow the
true time. Please, follow the announced time for reporting.
Please give the following information in your report to the Net Control Station:
Location
Time
Event
Duration of event (if applicable)
Is event still in progress?
Direction of event
Speed of Storm movement (if known)
Each message should begin with "This is a drill, test message"
8. We will conduct a hot wash of the drill on Sunday night at 8:30 during the Clarke Co. ARES Net.

Answer the following questions with a yes or no and send your answers to n4zra1@bellsouth.net:
1. Do you have a Georgia map at your Ham Station?
2. Do you have an Athens-Clarke County map at your Ham Station?
3. Do you have emergency power for your Amateur Radio equipment?
4. Do you have an inside antenna?
5. Do you have a copy of the SkyWarn script at your Ham station?
6. Have you had SkyWarn training in the last 5-years?
7. Do you have a jump kit ready to go?
8. Do you have a NOAA Radio near your station?
9. Do you have a Family Disaster Plan?
10. Do you have the NWS phone number at your station?
Amateur Radio operators that responded to the e-mail and followed the procedure listed above, received an e-mail with the overall
scenario and a list of weather events and times that were specific for their station.

Scenario
The overall scenario, sent to all participants that registered in advance, was as follows:
Saturday June 2, Hurricane Star has moved in from the Gulf and is moving across Georgia causing wind and hail damage.

2:00 PM
Cloudy, light breeze, 95 degrees F

3:00 PM
Light Rain, light breeze with occasional gusts, 92 degrees F
NWS reports of severe storms in middle Georgia.

4:00 pm
Heavy Rain, gusty, and 89degrees F

5:00 pm
Heavy rain with some minor flooding in the Athens, Winder, Hull, Commerce, Colbert and Danielsville areas.
NWS reports tornado in Dublin Georgia

6:00 pm
Extremely dark sky, heavy rains continue, 84 degrees F

7:10 pm
NWS issues Severe Thunderstorm Watch for North Georgia
Whole trees are in motion from the wind.
Rain is moderate.

7:27 pm
NWS issues a Tornado Watch for NE Georgia

Assigned Weather Events
Each Amateur Radio operator that registered via e-mail in advance was sent a list of specific weather events for their station.

Specific Weather Events for KF4AQO
7:40 pm
Three large trees uprooted in neighborhood
Light Rain
Steady high winds to the North East
Occasional Lightning

7:50 pm
0.75 inch Hail
High winds to the North East
Severe Lightning

7:52 pm
Tree branch breaks your outside antenna
If you have an alternative inside antenna, then you may continue to report to the NCS.
1-inch Hail
4 more trees rooted up

Specific Weather Events for KJ4EX
7:41 pm
0.55 inch Hail with continuous lighting for 2-minutes
Wind blowing Northeast with large branches in motion and whistling in telephone lines.
Continuous Lightning

7:43 pm
Clouds are starting to rotate
Wind in now causing damage to chimneys and TV antennas
Wind to the Northeast
Severe Lightning

Specific Weather Events for KE4JLL
7:42 pm
Damage to chimneys and TV antenna
Wind to the North East
Severe Lightning

7:45 pm
Loss of electrical power (If you have emergency power then you can transmit, however, if you do not, then you are considered out of
the net and can not transmit. Please listen to the rest of the net.)
0.75 inch Hail
Whole trees in motion from wind blowing to North east.

Specific Weather Events for KI4MHF
7:43 pm
Rotating cloud with wall cloud. The rotation has been maintained for over 5 minutes and is still in progress.
Heavy Rain 10 minutes ago.
Continuous Lightning
Twigs breaking off trees with wind blowing to the Northeast.

7:44 pm
Light Rain
Leaves rustle in the wind
Occasional Lightning

7:45 pm
Very Heavy Rain
Continuous Lightning
No wind
Branches, trash cans, and a small car are floating past your location

Specific Weather Events for N2YYP
7:46 pm
Very intense lightning
Very Heavy Rain
0.88 inch Hail for the past 2 minutes
Tornado has just touched down to your East and is moving East at 10 mph.
You can see debris flying around and the Tornado appears to be about half a mile from your house.

Specific Weather Events for KG4WHA
7:40 pm
Light Rain
Steady high winds to the North East
Whole trees in motion, inconvenience felt walking against wind
Occasional Lightning

7:48 pm
0.75 inch Hail
High winds to the North East
Twigs break off trees, impedes progress while walking
Severe Lightning
7:52 pm
Tree branch breaks your outside antenna
If you have an alternative inside antenna, then you may continue to report to
the NCS.
1-inch Hail
4 trees rooted up

Specific Weather Events for WT4XX
7:40 pm
Light Rain
Steady high winds to the North East
Whole trees in motion, inconvenience felt walking against wind for a short while and then
you notice several trees uprooted, widespread structural damage, such as roofs having their
shingles blown off
Lightning is a couple of flashes every minute

7:55 pm
0.75 inch Hail
Winds to the North East
Twigs break off trees, impedes progress while walking
Lightning is flashes with few interruptions

Exercise Net Operations
At 7:17 the Net Control Station started the SkyWarn Net at Condition Yellow based on the exercise scenario.
The NCS took check-ins and made assignments to volunteers. The following assignments were made:
Alternate Net Control Station: KF4AQO
Monitor NOAA Weather Radio: KE4JLL
Emergency Response Net on KD4AOZ Repeater: KF4AQO
Monitor Georgia ARES State-wide Net: KF4AQO
The net quickly reviewed the events to be reported to the Net Control Station (NCS) during the exercise. The NCS and explained that
the drill would be conducted on a simulated time scale, not real time.
At 7:30 pm the NCS declared a Condition Red and then moved ahead with the drill by announced that the time was 7:40 pm.
Each station that had registered in advance and had received an events list, examined their time listed for each event and
determined if the event was reportable.
Of the seven communicators that registered in advance, only six checked in to the Net. Two unregistered stations also
checked in during the net.
SkyWarn Exercise Check-ins:
1. N4ZRA
2. KI4KPA
3. KF4AQO
4. WT4XX
5. KG4WHA
6. KI4MHF
7. KG4CWA
8. KE4JLL
9. KJ4EX

Hot Wash Comments
After the drill a short hot wash was conducted and then again on June 3 ay 8:30 pm during the Clarke Co. ARES Net.
The following comments were recorded:
1. One part of the instructions state to report 50 mph wind and elsewhere 55 mph
winds. The correct value should be 50 mph, but wind is only reported if there
is structural damage.
2. An alternate NCS should be assigned as early as possible so the alternate station can record all check-ins and traffic from the beginning.
3. Flooding needs to be added to the reporting list in the script.
4. A SkyWarn reporting chart would be handy for the NCS to keep records.
5. Some events were reported that are not necessary or reported incorrectly:
a. Lightning.
b. Wind speeds less than 50 mph or winds 50 mph or greater with no damage report.
c. Wind direction should be reported as "wind from".
d. Antenna reports are not necessary and should be avoided in an emergency, however, antenna checks and reports should be conducted during
exercises to test and demonstrate to the communicator and the NCS the capabilities of the equipment.
6. The NCS and exercise designer were the same person. The exercise would have been better if the NCS had not been the exercise designer.
7. The NWS reporting Phone Number was left out of the SkyWarn Script and the list of Reportable Events and should be added to both.
8. Duties should be divided so that operators are not trying to do to much at one time.
9. Weather event traffic should be given clearly with short breaks for other possible emergency traffic, such as a tornado report.

The results from the survey were as follows:
1. Do you have a Georgia map at your Ham Station? 4- Yes, 3-No
2. Do you have an Athens-Clarke County map at your Ham Station? 2 Yes, 5 No
3. Do you have emergency power for your Amateur Radio equipment? 7 Yes
4. Do you have an inside antenna? 7 Yes
5. Do you have a copy of the SkyWarn script at your Ham station? 6 Yes, 1 No
6. Have you had SkyWarn training in the last 5-years? 5 Yes, 2 No
7. Do you have a jump kit ready to go? 6 Yes, 1 No
8. Do you have a NOAA Radio near your station? 6 Yes, 1 No
9. Do you have a Family Disaster Plan? 6 Yes, 1 No
10. Do you have the NWS phone number at your station? 6 Yes, 1 No