DELARANEWS
Club News Page 2
Once in a while, ham radio exposure isn’t good
DELARA and ARES operators joined in to operate the first actual severe weather net in our county on Wednesday, June 8. We had a good turnout as severe thunderstorms rolled across Ohio. There were not one but two tornado warnings for Delaware County, and an extended thunderstorm warning. President Mike, W8MDC, reports that while listening to the 145.29 DELCO Weather Net in his basement, his wife informed him that a Delaware Amateur Radio Operator had made the TV news. Turns out our John Beal, W8NX, was “first on the scene” to report a significant live tree blown over in his own back yard. He reported in to the net, Joe, K8MP, transferred the report to the Columbus Weather net and there was John’s report posted from Wilmington for the world to see. In addition to adding “yard cleanup” to John’s task list, the incident serves as a learning point for us all. John has a weather station. and he checked it after things calmed down- to find that there were sustained wind speeds of over 60 MPH and a momentary gust of 89 MPH! I’m n ot a biologist but my non-qualified opinion is this is a common event during severe storms, especially as conditions begin to deteriorate… causing the storm to lose its energy and suddenly fall. It’s called a “downburst” or “microburst” and can create some very severe wind damage over a local area. For instance, a storm traveling at 50 MPH may carry wind speeds in the 60’s… but if the high altitude portion of the storm suddenly loses lift, it can fall rapidly to earth and spread out as it hits the ground. Add that falling speed to the forward motion and you can get tornadic-level gusts for a short duration. The damage can be severe (don’t ask how I know first hand!). It is this kind of weather condition that is significantly helpful to forecasters. And being singled out as a recipient of damage is probably not the kind of exposure we’d prefer! Good luck to John!
DELARANews
Club News Page 2
Once in a while, ham radio
exposure isn’t good
DELARA and ARES operators joined in to operate the first actual severe weather net in our county on Wednesday, June 8. We had a good turnout as severe thunderstorms rolled across Ohio. There were not one but two tornado warnings for Delaware County, and an extended thunderstorm warning. President Mike, W8MDC, reports that while listening to the 145.29 DELCO Weather Net in his basement, his wife informed him that a Delaware Amateur Radio Operator had made the TV news. Turns out our John Beal, W8NX, was “first on the scene” to report a significant live tree blown over in his own back yard. He reported in to the net, Joe, K8MP, transferred the report to the Columbus Weather net and there was John’s report posted from Wilmington for the world to see. In addition to adding “yard cleanup” to John’s task list, the incident serves as a learning point for us all. John has a weather station. and he checked it after things calmed down- to find that there were sustained wind speeds of over 60 MPH and a momentary gust of 89 MPH! I’m n ot a biologist but my non-qualified opinion is this is a common event during severe storms, especially as conditions begin to deteriorate… causing the storm to lose its energy and suddenly fall. It’s called a “downburst” or “microburst” and can create some very severe wind damage over a local area. For instance, a storm traveling at 50 MPH may carry wind speeds in the 60’s… but if the high altitude portion of the storm suddenly loses lift, it can fall rapidly to earth and spread out as it hits the ground. Add that falling speed to the forward motion and you can get tornadic-level gusts for a short duration. The damage can be severe (don’t ask how I know first hand!). It is this kind of weather condition that is significantly helpful to forecasters. And being singled out as a recipient of damage is probably not the kind of exposure we’d prefer! Good luck to John!
Holiday Party 2019
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