The storm sirens are going off here and Randy just left to play storm spotter with the other Ham Radio club members.. Talk to you later.
Glad you were safe toni.I may not be on long I noticed a tornado watch on my tv screen,local channel.
Geeze Toni, you sound so calm. I'd be freaking out! But then, how many times in a year do you go thru this? That kind of weather is very rare here in Ontario, but when it does happen I head straight for the basement! Stay safe.
Because of drought the past two years we haven't had storms like this since 2004, but yes this is typical weather for us beginning in March and going thru May. It does make me nervous, I tend to go to the front door to look out a lot and since I have difficulty settling down I get a lot of 'piddling little things' done just to keep busy. :-D
The clouds will be moving off later today, no more rain for the weekend. It does look like we will have another round of the same thing on Tuesday.
One of the nice things about having a storm spotter in the family is having instant access to storm information. Our emergency operations center is located in the Police Dispatch area and we have access to all of their radar and communications. We also have members in the field with full internet access (through the cell phone network) that track radar while mobile. The storm spotters spread out around the area and find a safe spot to watch the storm. If a radar or visual report comes through that something is headed our way, we run like rabbits to a new and safe location. If something is headed for a loved one, we get on the cell phone and let them know. All of our communications are monitored by the TV and radio stations. If you hear that a spotter has reported something, it's through reports gathered over a scanner or ham radio set at the TV or radio station. Those reports are usually 10 to 15 minutes old. If you have a police scanner, you can find the local ham club in your area at http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/club/clubsearch.phtml and listen to the reports in real time. I'm not sure about the legalities of scanners in other countries, but a quick google search for amateur radio in your area should get you the information. You can also check out http://www.ares.org/ and http://www.races.net/ for more details.
