Ok so now I will vent

[KB5LJE]

I am sure everyone heard about the tornados that hit my area this week. So let me tell you what happened.

I was working the radio and watching out the window at the cloud. Just as I CLEARLY spotted the wall cloud with rotation, A call came across that the "Horn Lake FD spots a cloud with rotation can anyone else confirm"


I jumped right in and yep its there and it looks ugly. Moving fast to the north east from HL


Well some obviously untrained IDIOT!!!!! Said "I see the cloud but there is NOT any rotation"


Well dohhhhhh Who was right? and why dont the people learn what to look for! He could have cost someone there life with that bonehead move.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jQ7R...eature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jQ7R7ssTOQ&feature=related)


Shot from my neighborhood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMYXB...eature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMYXBmSSdYI&feature=related)




Rant over


Star is our home and the red blob is where it hit in Southaven


Mike

[Radio]

What Mike is trying to say is...FIND A LOCAL SKYWARN CLASS AND GET YOUR BUTT TRAINED!! You already have a radio and a license!

Start by clicking the NWS link on the ORR.net home page.

I'm going to take the local refresher class here locally in a few weeks. And if I can fit it into MY schedule, so can you.

[KB5LJE]

Well said and I take it every year!

It is invaluable to be accurate to our communities!!!!


I participate often in testing and also just knowing what I am looking at helps protect my family and neighbors.


Had three of them (neighbors) in our house with me as we had knowledge and communications.


Mike


What Mike is trying to say is...FIND A LOCAL SKYWARN CLASS AND GET YOUR BUTT TRAINED!! You already have a radio and a license!

Start by clicking the NWS link on the ORR.net home page.

I'm going to take the local refresher class here locally in a few weeks. And if I can fit it into MY schedule, so can you.

[N7OQ]

This is good advice for most but we had several hams take the course and a couple of idiots who would see things every time a cloud would go by. They would get on the radio and report seeing funnel clouds and even worse a tornado. We just don't get tornados very often and when we do they are very small compared to what we are talking about here. One of these guys had a J pole on a rotor and was convinced the J pole was directional. Information is great in the right hands but....

[Radio]

On a lighter note, one evening when the world seemed to be coming apart, one of those where we issued 15 tornado warnings in a single 4 hour shift, some idiot calls the Peachtree City NWS spotter hotline and asked, apparently with all sincerity:

Which is worse, a toad strangler or a gully washer?

We used to have a guy call in to the NWS via ham radio and report to us "Channel 11 is reporting tornados at such and such...." when we explained to him the TV stations get that information FROM US, he'd call up and tell us what the TV was saying with out telling us he got it off the TV. That made it even worse. So we got to where we didn't even log anything the guy said.

Eventually, he went away and left the storm spotting to those who were trying to do it right.

[TXiceman]

When reporting, you should give your location as well as the direction you are looking for a proper observation.

Ken

[wa8yxm]

Well there are several points.. Refering to someone's statement "Get your self down to a Spotter class and get your Butt trained" Fully agree, save it's the eyes and brain that need training.... Course some folks do seem to sit upon their brains a lot :)

#2. Odds do not favor this being right but it is possible, slightly, that that person who said "No roataion" could not, in fact, observe rotation.. More likely he lacked training but it is possible he truly could not see it.

Still, I think he should follow advice given up thread re: calss and get trained

Another issue is this; If you do not know what you are talking about.. Perhaps asking questions is better than making statements. I have asked a whole lot of questions in my day.

Also, you may need to make a QUALIFIED statement An example of this is:

"It is possible such and such happened, if this is the case however I'm not able to assist you farther as this is out of my field"

[jagco]

I was planning on taking a refresher course, this past Tuesday, but ended up getting two stents in my heart that day, and I also get to go back and get one more next week. They didn't want to do it all at once, as the dye is bad for the kidneys, and I have a kdiney transplant. Such fun!!

[w7wv]

Over the years I have run into so many that think the minute they put a microphone up to their mouth that they are "in charge" or "officers of the law".
Too many like this are out there and without training they can be a problem.