<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'>Hello to all..<br><br>We have reached the six-year anniversary of a
historic day in Southern New England Weather History. The June 1st, 2011
Massachusetts Tornado Outbreak will be a day long remembered in weather
history. This announcement recaps the tornado outbreak and the lessons
learned that apply <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT77_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT78_com_zimbra_date">today</span></span>. This message is leveraged from prior anniversary messages with some updates.<br><br>The <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT79_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT83_com_zimbra_date">June 1st, 2011</span></span>
event was forecasted by the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) in Norman
Oklahoma as far as 5 days out. This is very rare for New England to be
in a convective outlook past 3 days. The outlook of 'Slight Risk' for
severe weather would continue right up through <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT80_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT84_com_zimbra_date">June 1st</span></span>. As we got into <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT81_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT85_com_zimbra_date">June 1st</span></span>,
a fast moving area of rapidly developing severe thunderstorms ahead of
the warm front affected portions of Southern New Hampshire and Northeast
Massachusetts producing large hail. These storms quickly moved out of
area and were a sign of things to come and how explosive the atmosphere
was on <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT82_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT86_com_zimbra_date">June 1st</span></span>.
Abundant sunshine and rapid heating and destabilization coupled with
extremely strong wind shear values, set the stage for a historic major
severe weather outbreak in Massachusetts and other parts of New England.
The Storm Prediction Center in Norman Oklahoma issued a Mesoscale
Convective Discussion highlighting the need for Tornado Watches for much
of New York and New England. The Tornado Watches would be issued and
supercell severe thunderstorms would move into Southern New England.<br><br>Initially
the supercells produced very large hail including hail slightly over 4"
in diameter in East Windsor Massachusetts, Berkshire County, which may
potentially set the new record for the commonwealth as far as hail size
but no tornadic or wind damage activity through 400 PM. This is when the
supercell began to take shape in Western Hampden County Massachusetts
and set the stage for the large, long track EF-3 Tornado that traversed
the area from Westfield to Charlton Massachusetts for a 38-mile long
damage path and was on the ground for 70 minutes. Three smaller
tornadoes occurred in Western and Central Massachusetts from additional
supercells moving through the area. Another area of supercells went
through Northern Worcester County into Middlesex and Suffolk Counties
producing Golf Ball Sized hail and pockets of wind damage all the way
into the Metro Boston area.<br><br><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT87_com_zimbra_date">June 1st, 2011</span>
underscored how important Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters and non-Amateur
Radio SKYWARN Spotters are to the warning process and how the timely
severe weather reporting can not only help the warning process but can
also help saves lives. The near real-time reporting of the large EF-3
tornado touchdown with initial preliminary reports in Westfield, the
actual spotting of the EF3 Tornado by several Amateurs including
KB1NOX-Richard Stewart who was in a car with several other Amateurs and
Western Massachusetts SKYWARN Coordinator, Ray Weber-KA1JJM, and the
amazing remote webcam footage from WWLP-TV channel 22 in Springfield
Massachusetts helped to tell people that not only was this a radar
detected tornado but that it was definitely on the ground and doing
significant damage. It is quite likely that many lives were saved by
this near realtime reporting of the tornado being on the ground.<br><br>Amateur
Radio SKYWARN Nets were active on several Amateur Radio Repeaters
including the 146.940-Mount Tom Repeater run by the Mount Tom Amateur
Radio Club and with Amateur Radio members and SKYWARN Spotters from the
Hampden County Radio Association also reporting into the net. The
146.970-Paxton Repeater run by the Central Massachusetts Amateur Radio
Club was active for several hours as well. Both repeaters providing
significant near realtime reporting for situational awareness and
disaster intelligence purposes not only to the National Weather Service
but also to the media, local, state and federal emergency management
officials. The Amateur Radio Internet Radio Linking Project
(IRLP)/Echolink system on the echolink conference *NEW-ENG* node
9123/IRLP 9123 was also active with liaisons from various Amateur Radio
nets reporting into the network. While not in the NWS Taunton County
Warning Area, the 146.910-Mount Greylock Repeater was active with
Berkshire County SKYWARN as run by Rick-WA1ZHM with Walt-N1DQU providing
information from the net into NWS Taunton. Net Controls for the 146.940
Mount Tom Net were Bob Meneguzzo-K1YO and for the 146.970 Paxton Net,
John Ruggiero-N2YHK. N9SC-Steve Craven provided a critical liaison link
from the 146.970-Paxton Repeater Net to the 146.940-Mount Tom Net during
the tornadic outbreak. Many Amateur Radio Operators and non-Amateur
Radio SKYWARN Spotters reported severe weather conditions despite being
at risk from these powerful supercells. We are forever grateful for the
reporting that helped save lives. The outpouring of damage assessment
pictures and videos and reports near and after the event was
unprecedented. This clearly helped Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGOs), local and state emergency management perform their duties to try
and bring as many resources to bear on the significant path of
destruction carved out by the tornado outbreak.<br><br>For the victims, <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT88_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT89_com_zimbra_date">today</span></span>
is likely a painful reminder of what occurred and what loses they face
and in some cases are still recovering from in terms of property damage
and possibly lives lost. Our thoughts and prayers remain to all those
people that are affected and we hope that they have fully recovered and
moved on with their lives after this tornado outbreak.<br><br>For those not impacted by such a significant event as <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT90_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT92_com_zimbra_date">June 1st</span></span> and not impacted severely by the likes of Irene, Snowtober, Sandy, the <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT93_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT94_com_zimbra_date">February 2013</span></span> Blizzard, the 2014 EF-2 Revere Massachusetts Tornado and the <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT91_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT95_com_zimbra_date">August 4th</span></span>
2015 severe weather outbreak over the past 6 years, this is a reminder
that we must all be prepared for these significant weather situations
that occur at low frequency but can be with high impact. The more
self-sufficient and prepared we are, the easier the situation will be if
we are faced with such a significant scenario if it comes our way and
potentially occurs in a more widespread way. For those SKYWARN Spotters
and Amateur Radio Operators who have not witnessed such severe weather,
this is why we train and prepare because we never know the hour or day
where a critical severe weather report can help the warning process and
save lives.<br><br>On a personal level, we never want severe weather
like this to happen but if it has to happen, the level of commitment,
support and reporting of the situation in near realtime on June 1st with
a high level of precision and quality but also in the quantity that the
reports came through in our network is a testament to all of you for
remaining dedicated and supportive of the National Weather Service
SKYWARN program. It is an honor and a privilege for myself and many of
our Amateur Radio SKYWARN Coordinators across the NWS Taunton Coverage
Area to serve as leaders of the program and we appreciate everything you
do, as without all of you, we wouldn't have the SKYWARN program we have
<span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT96_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT97_com_zimbra_date">today</span></span>
in our region. Having been the leader of the program for over 20 years, this
was our finest hour in supporting the NWS Taunton office and saving
lives and it couldn't have been done without all of your support.<br><br>We
hope this remembrance makes people never forget what happened on June
1st 2011 and remind ourselves again that we must remain, prepared and
vigilant especially here in New England where events such as June 1st
can happen but on a low frequency basis. A June 1st 2011 video collage
has been posted at our SKYWARN video page at video.nsradio.org with
recordings of some of the Amateur Radio reports that came in through the
network and a direct link is listed below. Also listed below is the NWS
Taunton - Massachusetts Tornado Summary, the NWS Taunton <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT98_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT101_com_zimbra_date">June 1st, 2011</span></span> Facebook Graphic, the ARRL Story on the <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT99_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT102_com_zimbra_date">June 1st</span></span> Tornado Outbreak, the NWS Taunton <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT100_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT103_com_zimbra_date">June 1st</span></span> Local Storm Report and the Raw Storm log from the WX1BOX Amateur Radio Station.<br><br>Amateur Radio SKYWARN Video - <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT104_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT105_com_zimbra_date">June 1st, 2011</span></span>:<br><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT106_com_zimbra_url"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.nsradio.org/video/features/recap/2011tornado/index.html">http://www.nsradio.org/video/features/recap/2011tornado/index.html</a></span><br><br>NWS Taunton <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT107_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT108_com_zimbra_date">June 1st, 2011</span></span> Facebook Graphics:<br><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT110_com_zimbra_url"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/NWSBoston/photos/a.178319238929122.42608.122106561217057/1018773178217053/?type=3&theater">https://www.facebook.com/NWSBoston/photos/a.178319238929122.42608.122106561217057/1379858412108526/?type=3&theater</a></span><br><br>NWS Taunton Local Storm Reports <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT111_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT112_com_zimbra_date">6/1/11</span></span>:<br><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT113_com_zimbra_url"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.wx1box.org/local/lsr_6_1_11.txt">http://www.wx1box.org/local/lsr_6_1_11.txt</a></span><br><br>NWS Taunton Public Information Statement - Tornado Classifications from <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT114_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT115_com_zimbra_date">6/1/11</span></span>:<br><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT116_com_zimbra_url"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.wx1box.org/local/pns_6_1_11.txt">http://www.wx1box.org/local/pns_6_1_11.txt</a></span><br><br>ARRL Story from <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT117_com_zimbra_date"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT118_com_zimbra_date">6/1/11</span></span> - Central Massachusetts Experiences Rare Tornado, Area Hams Hasten to Help:<br><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT119_com_zimbra_url"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.arrl.org/news/central-massachusetts-experiences-rare-tornado-area-hams-hasten-to-help">http://www.arrl.org/news/central-massachusetts-experiences-rare-tornado-area-hams-hasten-to-help</a></span><br><br>NWS Taunton-WX1BOX Raw Amateur Radio Storm Log: <br><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT120_com_zimbra_url"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.wx1box.org/local/storm_reports.txt">http://www.wx1box.org/local/storm_reports.txt</a></span> <br><br>Respectfully Submitted,<br> <br>Robert Macedo (KD1CY)<br>ARES SKYWARN Coordinator<br>Eastern Massachusetts ARES Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator<br>Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)<br>Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)<br>Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)<br>Email Address: <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT121_com_zimbra_email"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT122_com_zimbra_email">rmacedo@rcn.com</span></span><br><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT123_com_zimbra_url"><a target="_blank" href="http://ares.ema.arrl.org">http://ares.ema.arrl.org</a></span><br><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT124_com_zimbra_url"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.wx1box.org">http://www.wx1box.org</a></span><br>Like us on Facebook - <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT125_com_zimbra_url"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT126_com_zimbra_url"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.facebook.com/wx1box">http://www.facebook.com/wx1box</a></span></span><br>Follow us on Twitter - <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT127_com_zimbra_url"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT128_com_zimbra_url"><a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/wx1box">http://twitter.com/wx1box</a><br><br></span></span></div></body></html>