LaPorte  County, Indiana
SKYWARN
National Weather Service, Amateur Radio
   and the PublicWorking Together
ARE YOU READY?
 
NEWSFLASH
 
 
Weather Spotter Classes 2012

March 14, 2012

Purdue University North Central, Westville

LSF Building - Room 03

2 classes to select from - 3:30pm  and 6:00pm

This class is open to the public

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
August 15,2007 & August 23, 2007

Late night storms hits LaPorte County

Photo's of the storm and damage are posted


 

 

 

 

 

 

Powerful Thunderstorms Bring Damaging Winds to the Region

 

 

 

 

 

A stationary cold front combined with several upper level disturbances provided the focus for powerful thunderstorms Thursday and Friday August 23-24. Thunderstorms raced through sections of northern Indiana, southern Michigan, and northwest Ohio both days producing widespread wind damage in many areas. The first round of thunderstorms developed in western portions of Illinois on the 23rd and raced toward the region at speeds approaching 60 mph. The thunderstorms were responsible for widespread wind damage across Illinois and northwest Indiana including the Chicagoland area. By 4:00 pm CDT, the thunderstorms rolled into LaPorte county and subsequently produced widespread damage across LaPorte and Berrien counties. A wind gust of 81 mph was recorded at the Michigan City Lighthouse as the thunderstorm complex took on a bowing/spearhead shape…a typical feature of thunderstorms that produce damaging wind. Numerous trees and power lines were reported toppled along with some structural damage to buildings. There were also a few reports of trees falling onto cars. Luckily no injuries were sustained. The thunderstorms also impacted the annual Michigan City Boat Show…coincidentally one year to the day in which thunderstorm winds of over 100 mph produced heavy damage to the area. The thunderstorms continued to produce wind damage as they pushed across southern Michigan and extreme northern Indiana through the evening.

 

 

 
 



 
Destructive Straight Line Winds in LaPorte County
A National Weather Service assessment team has concluded a damage survey of the affected areas. All damage that was observed was consistent with straight line wind damage. There was no evidence of a tornado. A supercell thunderstorm developed Wednesday afternoon along a lake breeze boundary just south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin . The storm moved southeast and then south over the lake continuing to intensify. As the storm moved onshore in Michigan City, Indiana, a 106 mph wind gust was recorded at the GLERL observation site near the Michigan City lighthouse ( US Coast Gaurd). The storm produced extensive damage in Michigan City with numerous trees and power lines down, some on cars and buildings. A train was blown off the tracks in northern Porter County. Golf ball sized hail, which covered the ground in places, was also reported with this storm. Washington Park was especially hard hit as thunderstorm winds swept in off the lake. The largest in water boat show in the Great Lakes was setting up in the park for a 4 day show. Several boats and trailers were destroyed, and the tents and merchandise were significantly damaged and scattered all over. The storm continued to produce damage as it moved south through LaPorte County with extensive damage in Westville and the City of LaPorte . As the storm continued south into Starke County , tennis ball sized hail was reported along U.S. Route 30, a few miles west of Hamlet.

 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 
Our Website has moved. Thanks to the
Michigan City Amateur Radio Club
for hosting this site.

 
CLICK HERE
FOR
STORM PHOTOS
LaPORTE COUNTY'S
TORNADO DAMAGE of 10/24/01
and 106 MPH WIND DAMAGE,
Storm 08/15/2007.

SKYWARN is a service of Amateur Radio and the National Weather Service.
Even with Doppler Radar, the National Weather Service can not determine what
is happening where and when.
The weather service uses trained weather spotters to watch for and report
server weather in order that warnings can be issued to the general public.
Spotter training classes are held generally in the spring by the National Weather Service.
INTERESTED IN BECOMING A
MEMBER OF LaPORTE COUNTY SKYWARN?
CLICK HERE

LaPorte County Skywarn
Ken Osborne, N9ZIP, County Director
Todd Miller, N9RKY, Assistant County Director
Dan Foster, KC9GFO, E.C., Assistant County Director
Bob Gaekle, KC9HCR Assistant County Director

Anyone can become a trained weather spotter. But for your safety, you must be trained.
The general public should report sever weather condition to the local police department.
They will verify the information and forward it to the Weather Service.
Wondering what to look for?
Click the lights for:
Summer 
Winter 
  IMO SKYWARN
&
NWS NORTHERN INDIANA
COVERAGE AREA


IMO SKYWARN
 
 The National Weather Service for North Central Indiana, South West Lower Michigan and North East Ohio has divided SKYWARN into four Quadrants.
Amatuers Radio operators in each quadrant set up Weather Nets or Weather Networks to make trained observations, and report those observations
to the Net Control Station (NCS) in his area. The NCS then relays that information to the National Weather Service so that
Warnings can be issued to the general public.
IMO MISSION STATEMENT
CLICK HERE

The general public can listen to and monitor these Weather Networks. Simply set your scanner to Network Freq.
nearest to you and listen in. You should also monitor the National Weather Service for the lastest warnings. The Freq. for the National Weather Service for the above region is 162.400 Mhz. Other National Weather Service Freq. are
162.425 Mhz, 162.450 Mhz, 162.475 Mhz, 162.500 Mhz, 162.525 Mhz, 162.550 Mhz.

    IMO SKYWARN
   WEATHER NETS
LaPorte County ........146.970 Mhz
                                 146.610 Mhz
Elkhart County .........145.430 Mhz
                                  146.430 Mhz
St Joseph County In...147.390 Mhz
                                  147.330 Mhz
St.Joseph County Mi 145.310 Mhz
                                 442.150 Mhz
Marshall County........147.285 Mhz
(QUAD 3 ONLY)
Berrien County Mi.....146.820 Mhz
                                  147.180 Mhz
Cass County...............145.210 Mhz
                                  147.180 Mhz
Kosciusko County......145.130 Mhz
Noble County.............147.150 Mhz
Williams County........148.820 Mhz
Allen County..............146.880 Mhz
Frequencies in RED are primary SKYWARN frequencies.
Frequencies in BLUE are SKYWARN backup frequencies.
OTHER SKYWARN COUNTY FREQUENCIES
LAKE---------------147.000 Mhz       PORTER------------ 147.105 Mhz
LAGRANGE--------147.150 Mhz     STEUBEN-----------147.160 Mhz
STARKE------------147.285 Mhz      MARSHALL--------147.285 Mhz
DEKALB-----------147.015 Mhz        NEWTON----------147.075 Mhz
JASPER-------------147.075 Mhz       PULASKI-----------147.180 Mhz
FULTON------------146.805 Mhz     WHITE---------------147.075 Mhz
CASS----------------147.160 Mhz      MIAMI----------------147.345 Mhz
WABASH------------147.030 Mhz    HUNTINGTON-------146.685Mhz
GRANT---------------146.790 Mhz     WELLS---------------147.060 Mhz
ADAMS--------------146.970 Mhz    BLACKFORD --------146.655 Mhz
JAY --------------------145.210 MhZ
LaPORTE COUNTY'S
OPERATIONS MANUAL
ON-LINE
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT A LIVE IMAGE
    So you want to become a trained weather spotter.
You don't have to be a Amatuer Radio Operator,
but it sure does help.

  To learn more about weather spotting, go to the National Weather Services web site.
CLICK THE LOGO LINK 
at the top of the page.
From there simply go the site for your area.
There you will find dates, times, and locations of weather
spotting classes nearest you.
Or simple contact a Skywarn member or County Director.
NWS SKYWARN
IMO SKYWARN QUAD 4
CONTACT LIST
Bill Casper - KC8OVZ - Director
Duane Wright - KC8POZ - Asst. Director
Al Spagnola - N9TZN -Asst. Director
Rich Oberle - KC9DJP - Asst. Director
John Bollweg - K9SIG _ Cass, Mi
Roberta "Bert" Carroll WB8MWV - St. Joseph, Mi
Jim Teeters N8SHO - St. Joesph, Mi
Bill Casper KC8OVZ - Cass, Mi
Sandy Swatzentruber W9JOE - Elkhart, In
Dale Holden KB9NRH - Elkhart, In
John Fleming W3GQJ- St. Joesph, In
DAVID RIFFEL - KC9AHS - St. Joesph, In
Ken Osborne N9ZIP - LaPorte, In
Todd Miller, E.C., N9RKY - LaPorte, In
Rich Oberle, KC9DJP - LaPorte, In
Dan Foster, KC9GFO, LaPorte, In
Bob Gaekle, KC9HCR, LaPorte, In
Earl Potter WD8KCY - Berrien, Mi
Don Garling WB8SXN - Berrien, Mi


How to Be a Better
Severe WeatherNet
Communicator

LaPorte County's Skywarn primary repeator
(W9LY 146.970 pl 131.8) is now using different
courtesy tones for normal operation, Weather & ARES nets, and
Weather Warnings, as well as voice announcements. These courtesy tones will let everyone
know what mode the repeator is in just by listening. When
Weather Warnings are issued, please restrict traffic to Emergency or
Priorty Reports of weather. The W9LY repeator is located North of LaPorte at 200'
and is able to operate on automatic battery back-up. If the 146.970 repeator fails,
    all Skywarn operations will move to K9JSI repeator 146.610.
During weather nets, we ask that all non Skywarn communications
use the K9JSI repeator. (3/03)

The 146.970 courtesy tone guide:
Single Beep = Normal Operation
3 Beeps (Long, Short, Long) = Weather/ARES Net open
High/Low = Weather Warning Issued
Weather Warnings are now proceeded with Alert tones
followed by detailed information.

When Spotter's are most likely to be needed, the W9LY
Repeator will be placed in Weather Watch Mode.
A voice message message will announce "Weather Watch".
This means weather nets can be opened at any time.
LaPorte County now has a number of trained moble storm chasers.
These spotters are trained and dispatched to locations in the county
to observe and report weather conditions. For your safety,
DO NOT CHASE storms unless you are trained and dispatched by
a net control station. Our Storm chasers have been trained where not to be
during severe weather. Our NCS's, Chasers and Spotters follow strict guidlines
for their safety. Because of our storm chasers, we can send better and faster
reports to the National Weather Service, and local Goverments for early warnings.
As the number of fixed and moble spotters grows, so does the reliability of the Skywarn program.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
NOAA WEATHER RADIO'S FREQ.
The LaPorte County Skywarn Program
is open to anyone (period). You don't have to be a club member of any club. You don't have to be a ARES or RACES member. You don't have to be a amateur radio operator (but it helps). Skywarn serves everyone, and is open to everyone.
All we ask is that you be trained first.
Freq. Allocations LaPorte County
PRIMARY REPEATOR 146.970 (131.8pl)
SECONDARY REPEATOR 146.610
SIMPLEX (if both are out) 146.970
QUADRANT 4 EMERGENCY SIMPLEX 146.520
03/31/99