🚀 go-pugleaf

Hello to all!

Thought it was time for another opinion from an NWS employee.  I am the
SKYWARN Coordinator for the Albany NY office of the NWS and am also the Data
Acquisition Program Manager.  Here in the Northeast, my role is as a liaison
between all the ARRL sections, clubs, RACES, ARES and states and county EM.
You might say we have a regional organization, in that we train all the
spotters in our County Warning Area which consists of counties in eastern NY,
Southern Vermont, western Massachusetts and northwest Connecticut.  As one can
imagine, this area crosses many jurisdictions, hence the need for a
"coordinator" at the NWS office level.

The way that SKYWARN operates in our area, is that it is blind to club, RACES
and ARES affiliation, as long as the reports are coming from trained spotters.
In other words, SKYWARN is a grouping unto itself.  As events unfold during
hazardous weather, the individual counties are responsible for the "nets"
which pass information on to the NWS on one of the two repeaters that we
monitor.  Everything runs quite smoothly (usually) and, again, the politics
are kept to a minimum.

I feel very strongly that the NWS should play an important role in the
organization and that it promote the smooth assimilation of data as the
weather crosses a specific area.  I feel that since we need the information
from the spotters, we should assist in the gathering of same.

In the northeast, if it weren't for the dedicated SKYWARN spotters, we would
not be able to deliver the service as well as we do.  What's more important -
if the thunderstorm crossing a specific area is producing golf ball-sized
hail, or if its not in the "organization's county?"

Just a few thoughts from the peanut gallery.

Steve/W2FXJ
Trustee - WX2ALY
NWS Albany, NY

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