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W1GMF > SKYWRN 25.12.06 05:24l 19 Lines 4803 Bytes #999 (0) @ NEBBS
BID : 15366_W1GMF
Read: GUEST
Subj: HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL
Path: ON0AR<YU7R<HG8LXL<CX2SA<HP2AT<KD4GCA<N1UAN<W1GMF
Sent: 061225/0417Z @:W1GMF.#EMA.MA.USA.NOAM #:15366 [Abington, MA FN42MC]
From: W1GMF@W1GMF.#EMA.MA.USA.NOAM
To : SKYWRN@NEBBS
Hello to all….
On behalf of the National Weather Service Taunton forecasters and staff, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a very Happy Holiday season for those celebrating other holidays during this festive time of year. It has been another active year in the NWS Taunton SKYWARN program and through your tremendous efforts of timely severe weather reporting into the National Weather Service in Taunton, forecasters at the office were able to protect life and property by issuing timely warnings based on that reporting.
The year started with a fairly active winter pattern and 2 strong storms in January with a major snowstorm for western areas on January 2nd and a strong rain and wind storm in mid-January with hurricane force wind gusts in parts of the area. The second blizzard to strike the region in 2 years occurred when the Blizzard of 2006 hit late on February 11th and into February 12th producing snowfall between 10-30ö and strong, damaging winds with moderate coastal flooding. This was followed by a wind storm just 5 days later that even had a few severe thunderstorms and showers producing hail along with the strong winds. After a 3 month period of very benign weather, the region experienced the May Floods of 2006 over Northeast Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire which was characterized as the worst flooding in 70 years. Over 300 reports of flooding and heavy rainfall were received from that epic event and Amateur Radio Operators assisted not just with SKYWARN spotting but with damage assessment and relief effort work after the incident had passed. SKYWARN was active for several days in Northeast Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire for the Floods of 2006.
The floods were a sign of things to come for what would be a very active severe weather season for the region. For a period of 8 weeks, SKYWARN Activations occurred at a torrid pace of 3-4 per week with very few being false alarms and at least some part of the NWS Taunton County Warning Area being hit. Over 370 reports of thunderstorm wind damage and large hail were received in 2006. A derecho hit the region on August 2nd, 2006, the first to hit the region in over 10 years. A strong F2 tornado hit Wendell, Massachusetts on July 11th with 3ö diameter hail and numerous reports of hail Golf Ball sized and larger occurring in the North Shore of Massachusetts and Southeast New Hampshire with a funnel cloud spotted over the Danvers/Topsfield area by 3 Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters. There was even an activation for Severe Thunderstorms on December 1st, 2006 for western parts of the region with general strong winds and wind damage occurring over other parts of the NWS Taunton County Warning Area. A strong Nor’easter in October 28th-29th, 2006 brought two days worth of damaging winds up to around 70 MPH, rainfall on day one of the event of 2-5ö for parts of the region and moderate coastal flooding to the South Coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island on strong South and Southeasterly winds.
SKYWARN training occurred across the region with Marine Spotter Classes also held. There are now over 5,000 SKYWARN Spotters in the NWS Taunton County Warning area and an increasing number of Marine Weather Spotters that are now in the NWS Taunton area. SKYWARN Strategy Meetings were held in 2006 and the last meeting in November involved forecasters and Amateurs from the National Weather Service Gray, Maine office where they are beginning to construct a SKYWARN program in their region that will assist their area and allow for strong cooperation between the NWS Taunton and Gray Maine Offices in case backup communications are required because the backup for the Taunton office in the event of a major incident is the Gray Maine Office and if a major incident occurs at Gray, the NWS Taunton office would provide backup. The NWS Gray Maine office participated in SKYWARN Recognition Day for the first time ever and NWS Taunton Hams talked with NWS Gray Hams and over 150 other contacts with Amateurs and other NWS offices were received through various Amateur Radio modes. The Southern New England Weather Conference had a SKYWARN presentation done at the request of Southern New England Weather Conference organizers and was well received by over 60 people who attended that specific talk at the conference.
We’ll be starting the training plans, newsletters and preparing for activations once again as we close out 2006 and start 2007. A HUGE thank you for all of your efforts as we move forward with the NWS Taunton SKYWARN program. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays to all of you!
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
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