May 10, 2008 9:50 AM EDT From KD1LD There are currently no watches, warnings, or advisories in effect ......................................................................... From KD1LD Steven J. Williams 187 Marshall Street Winsted, CT. 06098 Connecticut ARES DEC SKYWARN Telephone 860-379-8392 Cell Phone 860-480-2564 E- Mail k1sjw@arrl.net May 4, 2008 TO: All Connecticut SKYWARN Coordinators and Spotters FROM: Steve Williams K1SJW CT ARES DEC SKYWARN SUBJECT: Current Status of 2008 Spring Basic Spotter Training As of today Basic Spotter Training Sessions have been completed for the following counties: Litchfield, Hartford, Tolland, and Windham. A Basic Spotter Training Session is scheduled to be held for Fairfield County on May 12th, 2008 from 7pm to 10pm at the Shoprite Supermarket Community Room 360 Connecticut Ave Norwalk CT. Registration is required for this class. To register please go to http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/okx/Skywarn/spottertraining-08.htm select register on-line and complete the form. The specific offering is Norwalk, May 12 and shows up on the form dropdown as Fairfield May 12 (for Fairfield County). A Basic Spotter Training Session is planned for New Haven Middlesex Counties. Announcement of the date, time, and location will be forth coming once the session has been arranged. I would like to comment on the sessions that have been completed thus far around the state. I want to thank the Northville Amateur Radio Association and the Washington Volunteer Fire Department for co-sponsoring the training session for Litchfield County and providing the Washington Fire House as the training facility for this class. I also want to thank Senior Forecaster Brian Montgomery from NWS Albany NY for instructing the training session. Brian has also recently taken on the responsibility of being the liaison between NWS Albany NY and Litchfield County. This will allow the spotters in Litchfield County to have an additional go to person besides John Quinlan the SKYWARN coordinator at NWS Albany. I want to thank Bruce DePrest and WFSB Channel 3 for sponsoring the recent training session for Hartford, Tolland, and Windham Counties. I also wish to thank WFSB for providing the training facility at their studios in Rocky Hill and for the refreshments they provided for this session. I want to thank NWS Taunton SKYWARN Coordinator Bill Babcock and WCM Glenn Field for presenting this training session. The training session for Hartford, Tolland, and Windham Counties was unique in that it brought together NWS Meteorologists and Meteorologists from the local television stations in Connecticut that Bruce DePrest had invited to attend the training session. I want to thank the other Meteorologists that took time out of their busy schedules to attend the SKYWARN training they include: Mark Dixon and Darren Sweeney from WFSB Channel 3, Geoff Fox from WTNH Channel 8, Ryan Hanrahan from WVIT Channel 30, and Joe Furey from WTIC Fox 61. SKYWARN spotters are members of a team that includes the forecasters at the local NWS offices. Our responsibility to this team is to provide the forecasters with timely and accurate ground truth information of severe weather events so the forecasters can fulfill the NWS mission of issuing the appropriate warnings to the general public in enough time to allow the public to act to save lives and property. What the recent training at WFSB in Rocky Hill did for us was to remind spotters that there is another component to this team which is the local TV weather forecasters in Connecticut. These men and women provide important information to the public both in advance of severe weather and during severe weather events. Once a watch or warning is issued they strive to keep the public informed of the dangerous conditions within the state. In doing so they utilize the ground truth information that spotters are reporting back to NWS. By monitoring the local storm reports being issued by NWS during severe weather they are also able to confirm that what they are seeing in their own weather radar systems is occurring at ground level. They are able alert the public to the potential for damage in other parts of the state as a severe storm system continues to move across the state. This highlights the fact that ground truth information provided by spotters is important not only to NWS but also to the forecasters from the local TV stations within the state. I encourage all spotters who have recently taken SKYWARN training courses to e-mail the instructors with feedback on the class. Please take a moment to email them and thank them for their efforts. The NWS forecasters that provide this training are traveling as much as two hours away from their homes to provide this training for us at no charge. For the spotters that attended the training session at WFSB Channel 3 please also take the time to e-mail Bruce DePrest and the management of WFSB to thank them for everything they did to make this session a great success. So far this session had the most participants with over 80 people in attendance. As the death toll from tornados that occurred in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas on Friday continues to rise I would ask spotters to encourage your families, friends, and neighbors to purchase and utilize Weather Alert Radios to provide them with the capability of receiving timely warnings of severe weather conditions. The summer severe weather season will soon be upon us. In closing I want to thank all of the spotters and coordinators in Connecticut for continuing to volunteer your time and efforts to the SKYWARN program. You are the backbone of this program and without you the program could not be successful. It is both an honor and privilege to serve you as the statewide coordinator of this important program. We can all be proud of our efforts to help fulfill the NWS mission and help protect the lives and property of our families, friends, and neighbors from severe weather. ........................................................................ Attention all Southern Connecticut SKYWARN Spotters within the counties covered by NWS in Upton LI. A Basic Spotter Training Session is scheduled to be held for Fairfield County on May 12th, 2008 from 7pm to 10pm at the Shoprite Supermarket Community Room 360 Connecticut Ave Norwalk CT. Registration is required for this class. To register please go to http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/okx/Skywarn/spottertraining-08.htm select register on-line and complete the form. The specific offering is Norwalk, May 12 and shows up on the form dropdown as Fairfield May 12 (for Fairfield County). Spotters from other parts of southern Connecticut are also welcome to register and attend this class. Especially those in New London County as no class is planned for your county this spring. Sincerely Steve Williams (K1SJW) CT ARES DEC SKYWARN E-mail k1sjw@arrl.net