***** ARES Tropical Storm Discussion #3 *****
*** Hurricane Frances Contingency Updated ***
Hello to all:
This note discusses the potential threat from Hurricane Frances for New England interests during the latter part of the Labor Day Holiday weekend.
The storm appears to be heading toward the Florida coast and affect us mid week as a windy rainstorm. I want to emphasize that it is still too early to say for sure where this hurricane will go, and our need to still carefully monitor it. Ironically a sudden turn to the North at this point would bring it to our area as a hurricane! Please continue to monitor storm’s progress through Rob’s status messages.
Only if the storm goes north of the 30th parallel and is west of Boston’s longitude (71W), on a northerly course, will I order the standby mobilization for our entire section. Cape Cod, South Shore (Plymouth), and Bristol DEC’s may elect to accelerate that schedule, so please check with them. Timing of the Skywarn mobilization will most likely follow a different schedule, so please look for Rob’s specific guidance there.
If we find ourselves under the gun, Rob or I will provide the impact of tropical storm winds (TSW)portion of the storm timeline should that prove necessary. After that has been announced, the HF team should be manned 36 hours prior to the arrival of TSW. Mobilization of our command post at the Bridgewater and Cape Cod EOC’s will be ordered 24 hours in advance of TSW, and the backup EOC’s in Ipswich and the SEMARA club at the 12 hour point. Again, local DEC’s may accelerate that schedule at their discretion.
As a final point, remember the storm speed is what can make the storm particularly dangerous for New Englander’s. Please also remember that the accelerating speed of the storm as it approaches us also compresses our time to react.
Please press the “read more” button (–>) to view hurricane readiness suggestions.
73,
/s/ Michael P. Neilsen
Michael P. Neilsen, W1MPN
Eastern Massachusetts
Section Emergency Coordinator
w1mpn@ema.arrl.org
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
978.562.5662 Office
978.389.0558 FAXHello to all:
As some of you know, August has already been one for the tropical season record books with 8 named storms, breaking the old record of 7 in any August. We can certainly also say that our season has been robust, with three major storms so far (Alex, Charley, and Frances) and it’s not even September yet!
Of greater concern is the track of Hurricane Frances during the upcoming week. Without sounding too dramatic, the storm is very powerful and its track is following those of past monsters such as the Great Hurricane of 1938, and Hurricanes Donna and Carol. I want to emphasize that it is still too early to say for sure where this will go, but its track suggests that we should start thinking about what we want to do. So here are my thoughts:
1. Review your supply situation now. Stock up now with water, batteries, and dry/canned goods. There is an excellent opportunity to do that when you go shopping for your holiday BBQ’s! Waiting until later this week could expose you to crowds trying to deal with holiday needs and an impending storm.
2. Thoroughly review your station status now. Please pay particular attention to outdoor items such as antennas and cabling. Test radios, and ensure batteries and backup power systems are ready to go. Remember we recommend alternative systems to portable generation be used first, due to the inherent dangers with generators to you and utility workers.
3. Those of you working with Echolink for weather management or hurricane reporting should pay particular attention to emergency power. Rob reports that the systems’ greatest vulnerability is power outage of individual stations, not Internet outage!
4. Program radios now to work with RACES and SKYWARN frequencies. You should be able to shift to simplex on the output frequency quickly if needed. Take the opportunity to also program in other liaison, resource, and logistic frequencies as directed by your district communication plan.
5. As a final point, remember the storm speed is what can make the storm particularly dangerous for New Englander’s. Please also remember that the accelerating speed of the storm as it approaches us also compresses our time to react.
Timing of the Skywarn mobilization will most likely follow a different schedule, so please look for Rob’s specific guidance there.
I hope that we will not have to deal with this storm, although I fear someone on the east coast will. I look forward to working with you again after our very successful DNC effort. Thank you in advance for your efforts to get prepared. My regards to you and your family. 73.