Lorain County Skywarn Profile

Lorain County Skywarn can be heard on most scanners or 2m Ham radio on 147.150 Mhz during severe weather situations. Skywarn Nets are activated whenever the National Weather Service issues a Tornado Warning, Tornado Watch, Severe Thunderstorm Watch, or a Severe Thunderstorm Warning.

The system is set with a main repeater site on W. River Rd. between Elyria and Lorain with remote sites in Clarksfield and in Brunswick sponsored by the Lorain County Amateur Radio Association. We also have the availability to be linked to the 146.805 repeater in Berlin Hts. courtesy of the Firelands Amateur Radio Association.

Emergency frequencies for Lorain County Skywarn in the event that the primary repeater 147.150 MHz KC8BED is nonfunctional:

The Lorain County Skywarn Nets take weather traffic primarily in Lorain County, and passes severe traffic Via our liaison to District 2 (145.230) who in turn passes it to The National Weather Service via the 6m backbone (closed repeater). Emergency weather traffic from any area will be taken and passed when needed however we encourage everyone to use their own county Skywarn system if possible first, and use us as a secondary source. The backbone can also be heard on 444.975 (also a closed repeater).

When severe weather approaches our area you will hear an S ( … ) courtesy tone. At this time please check in with your call sign and location in case we need reports from a specific location. Please be aware of the situation and leave courtesy pauses between transmissions in case someone needs to get in with important information. When severe weather enters Lorain County a Net will be activated and a W ( . _ _ ) courtesy tone will be heard. These Nets are open to all amateurs and we invite your observations. However at this time this will be a directed Net and no traffic is permitted without acknowledgement from the Net Control Station.

Please give your call sign and limit your report(s) to:

1. The time of your observation
2. The effect
3. Your location and whether your report is measured or estimated. Please summarize your report so that it can be transmitted in 15 seconds or less to allow us to move as much traffic as possible in the least amount of time.

Priority traffic includes

1. Tornado ( a funnel on the ground with swirling debris around it)
2. Funnel cloud ( a funnel not touching the ground)
3. Wall cloud or rotation
4. Hail – size and duration - hail size is to be compared to a pea or coin ( dime, quarter, golf ball or larger) - (estimating hail size on back of page)
5. Damaging wind – speeds and duration - (estimating wind speeds on back of page)
6. Sustained heavy rain – (estimating rainfall on back of page)
7. Unusually heavy cloud to ground lightening

Please be prepared to move to safety if the storm threatens you or your family.

There will be times when the NWS will not want our reports. For example, if we have a thunderstorm warning going and have numerous reports of 2"/hour rainfall and another county has a tornado on the ground, NWS and/or District 4 will essentially refuse to pass and/or accept our reports. This does not mean that we should get irate or upset. This does not mean that our reports are not important (your reports are probably more important to our area at this time). We sometimes need to look at the bigger picture. You should also listen to NOAA weather radio on 162.400 or 162.55 in our area.

A good way to estimate wind speed:

A good way to estimate rainfall:

(This is to be used for your information only and not to be used for spotter reports.)

A good way to estimate hail size:

Skywarn training and NWS spotter training usually occurs in March each year. Please get involved. You’ll be glad you did.

For more information on Skywarn or Ham radio, contact:

Lorain County Amateur Radio Association

2929 West River Rd. North

Elyria, Ohio 44035

Or visit our web site at: http://www.qsl.net/lcara

This page was developed by Ken Roberts KC8BQO

Webmater of the Lorain County Skywarn Page, Bob Parker (KB8ZXV)