Press Release, Mar-11-2000:


HAM RADIO OPERATORS PREPARE FOR EARLY STORM SEASON

Ham Radio Operators in Larimer and Weld Counties are preparing for an
early severe weather season.  Indications are that severe weather will
arrive in northern Colorado early this year and they plan to be ready.
Networks of trained Amateur Radio Operators who serve the National
Weather Service as SKYWARN volunteers are preparing for what could be an
early and long season.

These volunteers are the eyes of the National Weather Service (NWS).
While it is true that the NWS has a significant investment in the worlds
most sophisticated weather detection equipment in the world, these radio
operators provide field reports directly to NWS offices in Boulder.  Many
of the warnings seen on TV, or heard on radio and broadcast on NOAA
weather radio are as a result reports from field stations operated by
SKYWARN personnel.  Many of these same operators saw duty as collateral
communications in communities throughout the country during Y2K, as ARES
operators.  ARES is an arm of the Amateur Radio Relay League and the
letters stand for Amateur Radio Emergency Services.  There are radio
operators who volunteer from the Denver-Metro and Boulder areas who
operate inside NWS to provide the most timely link between forecasters
and field spotters.

There are many similar groups around the country and Colorado in
particular.  Networks of operators, both in the field and in fixed
locations, report cloud formations, directions of travel of these storms
and any elements, which meet severe criteria.  Many volunteers expend
hundreds of hours a year tracking these storms at their own expense in
the hopes that lives of their friends and neighbors will be better
protected.  While the science of predicting exactly when or where a
tornado or severe weather might strike is not very precise, the key to
protection of the public is early warning.

Amateurs in Colorado ARES District 10, serve Larimer, Weld and Jackson
counties.  There are nearly 200 operators in just those counties alone
who are trained and volunteer regularly to provide this service for the
public good.  Annual training is already scheduled for the 2000 season
and expected to once again, be a full house of licensed radio operators
ready to volunteer yet another season.  The training is intended to
teach SKYWARN volunteers what to look for, what they need to report and
the terminology the National Weather Service likes to be used when
reports are going in.  All of that and most importantly how to remain in
a position of safety and still be able to gather the information being
sought by the NWS.

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