Subj : Hurricane Watch Net Updat
To   : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Thu Jul 07 2005 10:58 pm

The following is an update from the Hurricane Watch Net website (www.hwn.org) on
Hurricane Dennis...which as of 11pm EDT July 7, (0300 UTC), was a category 4
(major) hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The latest info on Dennis can
be found at the National Hurricane Center website (www.nhc.noaa.gov).
Unfortunately, it looks like the Gulf Coast...the same areas that were hit
were Ivan last year...will get blasted by Dennis early next week.

***

The Hurricane Watch Net remained active until the 20 meter band closed
Thursday night (July 7). The net will activate at 09:00 a.m. EDT - 13:00 UTC
Friday morning. Currently, Hurricane Dennis, is currently forecast to be a
Category 4 Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale at landfall on Friday,
somewhere along the southwest coast of Cuba. Please help to spread the word
to people in the affected area, while also requesting any available
reporting stations in the area to please come to net frequency (14.325mhz)
with their observed and/or measured weather data.

Based on current forecast information, it appears we will stand down on
Saturday (July 9) as the storm moves into the open Gulf of Mexico waters.
It appears now that we will again activate at 09:00 a.m. EDT - 13:00 UTC on
Sunday (July 10) as the storm approaches the northern Gulf Coast late on
Sunday as possibly a very dangerous Major Hurricane. Any update to this plan
will be announced as necessary.

We will be requesting measured/observed ground truth data from the affected
area. Under direction of the National Hurricane Center, those may be
solicited from specific locations and/or with specific criterion attached
(such as people experiencing sustained winds in excess of 35 knots, or
those with rapidly degrading conditions, etc.). Temperature and dew point
information is not needed. We remind those reporting stations to "please" do
not report to us the weather information reported on your local media. We
are interested ONLY in your personal observations, preferably measured by
calibrated instrumentation.

Note: The above criteria may be changed without notice.

Throughout this event, we remind everyone that we are also available to
provide backup communications facilities to official agencies such as
Emergency Operations Centers and Red Cross officials in the affected area.
We will also be interested to collect and report significant damage
assessment data back to FEMA officials stationed in the National Hurricane
Center.

Please honor our request that you should not check in to the net, unless
specifically requested to do so. We will attempt to handle all
communications within the capabilities of our own members, and only when
required assistance is needed will we ask for your help.

While our mission is specifically to provide storm related information
into and out of the storm, please understand we are not involved in
Health and Welfare traffic. That traffic will be handled by the SATERN
net on 14.265.00 MHz, whenever activated, as well as on their website of
www.satern.org.

On the SATERN homepage, you will find a link for Health and Welfare
Information. Fill out that form, and they will get back with you as soon
as possible. We will likely be reporting other emergency frequencies to
be set up by local emergency management nets in the affected area. Please
monitor 14.325.00 MHz for that information as it is made available.

As a final reminder, please monitor this web site for storm related
advisory updates, graphics displays, and other data made available from
the National Hurricane Center. 

Thanks in advance for your support and cooperation during this extremely
dangerous storm.

Sincerely,
Bobby Graves, KB5HAV
Assistant Net Manager
Hurricane Watch Net


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