December 2000                                           

Page 7

SKYWARN

by Pat Roberson, WA7PAT
    I recently was asked to attend a meeting at the Portland office of the National Weather Service. In attendance were Zeph MacNaughton N7WAP, Dan Keeton of the National Weather Service (NWS), along with several members of Navy-Marine Corps Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS).
    As some of you may know MARS has been working with the NWS in Medford, Boise
and Pendleton to provide a back-up communications source, and through the National Communication System (NCS) program called Shared HF Resources (SHARES) will be able to directly link to other Government stations. MARS has been working side by side with ARES/RACES groups in these areas with much success.
    Zeph will shortly be moving on to other adventures and I have been tasked with being a liaison between MARS and NWS and to coordinate the Amateur radio efforts at NWS.
    The first thing that needs to happen, is getting the Packet station back on the air and add HF and VHF voice communications, as well as HF digital communications to handle emergency traffic via Amateur Radio and MARS. I will be looking for Amateurs who have taken the Skywarn course to help out in this task.
Patrick Roberson, WA7PAT
Vice-President, PARC
Weather Spotter: Multnomah 66H
Navy-Marine Corps
MARS Callsign: NNN0PAT

National Weather Service, Portland Oregon         December 15, 2000


The year 2000 Cold Season off to a Frosty Start…

     As we approach the winter solstice, National weather Service spotters were already active in monitoring December storms that brought freezing rain and snow to the Willamette valley, and to the Columbia River Gorge. During the second week of  December, freezing rain turned Highway 84 trough the Columbia Gorge, and portions of the Willamette valley into a treacherous skating rink of iced over roadways that caused multiple vehicle accidents. On December 11th Polk-3 at Dallas reported 6.25 inches of snow at 8:15 PM. On October 14th spotters in action as a windstorm slammed into the north Oregon coast.
    Spotter Clatsop-5 reported gusts to 60 mph at Seaside Oregon around 4:30 PM and spotter Pacific-19 at Ocean park Washington reported gust to 60 mph, with tree limbs down, at 2:00 PM. The windstorm then toppled trees at Kelso and then moved into the Willamette valley where falling trees hit homes at Kaiser and Mulino, and knocked out power to more that 40,00 homes. This storm was only a zephyr compared to the one that hit 5 years ago on December 12th 1995.

**********

    This was an excerpt from the NWS December New letter.
   What are Polk-3, Clatsop-5 and Pacific-19? Private citizens who

report storm conditions to the weather service. Not all of them are HAMS but a lot of them are!
   They provide an invaluable service to the Weather Service, even with our Weather Satellites and Doppler Radar first hand visual coverage of damage and conditions are necessary.
   If you would like to become a Severe Weather Spotter contact Dan Keeton, Warning Coordinator, Meteorologist.
At the National Weather Service 5241 N.E. 122nd Portland, Oregon 97230-1089
   www.wrh.noaa.gov/portland
Or contact
Patrick Roberson, WA7PAT
Vice-President, PARC
Email: wa7pat@arrl.net


Multnomah -31H
KC7PDI   

MULTNOMAH COUNTY
ARES/RACES

Meeting Date: January 25th

Meeting Location:

Portland Fire Training Center
4800 NE 122nd Ave. @ 7:00 PM

Weekly Training Net

     W7LT's 146.840 Repeater
      Wednesday  @ 7:00 PM
    For more information contact:
  Perry W. Hopkins KD7EYM
     E-mail hoppie@uswest.net
     Emergency Coordinator
         Multnomah County
             ARES/RACES