NWS Charleston SKYWARNTM Operations
What is SKYWARNTM?
SKYWARNTM is a voluntary program
developed by the National Weather Service (NWS) to improve the warning program. SKYWARNTM
volunteers serve as storm spotters for the NWS and local emergency
management programs. Keeping their eyes on the sky, volunteers serve as the eyes and ears for
the whole community. SKYWARNTM volunteers come from all walks of life but
they all have generally two things in common - an interest in the weather
and an interest in serving their community.
The NWS needs real-time reports of hail size, wind damage, flash flooding, heavy rain, and
tornados in order to effectively warn the public. Even as new technology allows the NWS to
issue warnings with more lead time, spotters will always be needed as links between radar
indications of severe weather and ground truth information.
Click here
to get more information about the program.
SKYWARNTMOperations on 2 Meters
The SKYWARNTM program at NWS Charleston utilizes the vast 2 meter
amateur radio network across southeast South Carolina and adjacent southeast
Georgia to obtain severe weather reports. In the event of severe
weather, and at the discretion of the forecaster-in-charge, a net controller
will be called in to initiate a severe weather net. Although this
will occur primarily with large outbreaks, sometimes reports will be solicited
for smaller, less organized weather events.
In case of severe weather, NWS Charleston will monitor the following repeaters:
South Carolina...146.790 MHz...Mt. Pleasant (Charleston County)
If this repeater is not available, the next two backups are:
1) 146.910 MHz...White Hall (Colleton County) and
2) 147.345 MHz...Adam's Run (Charleston County).
Georgia...147.105 MHz...Pembroke (Bryan County)
If this repeater is not available, the backup is:
1) 146.700 MHz...Savannah (Chatham County)
When a severe weather net is activated, the call sign for NWS Charleston is: WX4CHS
When calling net control, simply call "Charleston Weather".
Lowcountry SKYWARNTM Net
All amateurs are cordially invited to check in to the Lowcountry SKYWARNTM Net
every Tuesday night at 9 PM on the CARS linked repeater system: 146.790- in Mt.
Pleasant, 145.250- in Summerville, 145.410- on Seabrook Island and 147.045-
(103.5 tone) in St. George. The net is sponsored by the National Weather Service
in Charleston. The purpose is to practice calling a SKYWARNTM net and to encourage
hams to relay weather information to the National Weather Service in Charleston
if a net is activated. If severe weather is occurring or imminent at the weekly
net time, the net will be cancelled for that week. You do not have to be a
trained weather spotter to participate. You'll be asked your name, call sign, spotter
number (if you have one), location, and a brief description of current weather
conditions at your location. A short training topic relating to severe weather or
amateur radio operations will be covered. We look forward to hearing from you!
Severe Weather Net Procedures
The success of a severe weather net depends on everyone using discretion
with their microphones. Please do NOT transmit
unless it is absolutely necessary. Ragchewing, little side comments
and personal transmissions are not to be made. Please do NOT
transmit to report general weather information, for example, "it's raining
hard", "I see lots of lightning off to the west", "the clouds are getting
darker", "it's thundering", etc. Traffic of this nature is of no
real use to the net. It only ties up the repeater and may prevent
someone with severe weather to report from getting through. Think
before you transmit! Just listening and calling when you have severe
weather to report is the best help you can provide a severe weather net.
It is not the intent of the net to provide the latest conditions and forecasts.
The net is set up to receive reports, not give them. Please
remember this so that the net will be successful.
What kind of severe weather reports are we looking for?
1. Tornadoes, waterspouts, funnel clouds or rotating wall clouds
2. Hail (Any size)
3. Estimated or measured wind speeds of 50 mph or greater
4. Flooding
5. Rainfall amounts greater than 1 inch per hour
6. Damage by wind or lightning
7. Downed trees and/or power lines
When reporting any of these events, it's very important to tell us WHEN
and WHERE they occurred. If it's a second or third
hand report, please give us the source of the original report, along with
all the applicable information in #1-7 above.
Reporting Criteria
Hail Size Comparisons:
0.25 inch - Pea
0.75 inch - Penny
0.88 inch - Nickel
***SEVERE***
1.00 inch - Quarter
1.25 inches - Half dollar
1.50 inches - Ping pong ball
1.75 inches - Golf ball
2.00 inches - Hen egg
2.50 inches - Tennis ball
2.75 inches - Baseball
3.00 inches - Tea cup
4.00 inches - Grapefruit
4.50 inches - Softball
Please report the size of the largest hailstones as they cause the most damage.
Also, please do not use the term "marble size" since marbles come in many different sizes.
If hail is smaller than dime size, simply report it that way.
Estimating Wind Speed:
25-31 mph: Large branches in motion; whistling heard in telephone
wires and power lines.
32-38 mph: Whole trees in motion; inconvenience felt walking
in the wind.
39-55 mph: Twigs break off trees; wind generally impedes progress.
***SEVERE***
56-72 mph: Damage to chimneys and TV antennas; shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
73-112 mph: Surface of roofs peeled away; windows broken; mobile homes
pushed or overturned; moving cars pushed off roads.
113-157 mph: Roofs torn off; weak buildings and mobile homes destroyed;
large trees snapped and uprooted.
157+ mph: Severe damage; cars lifted off the ground.
Spotter Briefing
Doppler Radar and Satellite Imagery
Additional Radar Imagery:
Additional Satellite Imagery:
Severe Weather
(From NOAA's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK)
Current Warnings
(Issued by local NWS offices)
Surface Weather Maps
(Issued by NOAA's Hydrometeorological Prediction Center in Camp Springs, MD)
Latest Local Weather Observations
South Carolina Forecasts
(Issued by NWS Charleston)
Georgia Forecasts
(Issued by NWS Charleston)
Precipitation Forecasts
(Issued by NOAA's Hydrometeorological Prediction Center in Camp Springs, MD)
Tropical Weather/Hurricanes
(From NOAA's National Hurricane Center in Miami, FL)
Long Range Threats Assessments
(From NOAA's Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, MD)
Additional Links
- Skywarn Recognition Day - An annual event sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL)
and the National Weather Service.
- National Weather Service booklets,
brochures and pamphlets are available online, including ones on storm
spotting. Many are in full color!
Note: You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF files.
- The NWS office in Norman, OK has an excellent SKYWARNTM spotter page on their website. Some of the topics covered are:
weather.gov
