Another question about the area's weather...

[Autumn Online]

   Thank ya'll so much!!  Really appreciate the info, and love this messege board.  Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season!

[Mary_Krupa]

Wow, 2 great answers for you. It's good people can communicate like this.

Personally, I never think about tornadoes unless I hear one is happening at that moment. Tornadoes have happened here on the southside of Ytown but not that often. I really don't listen to any media for weather info and just take each day as it comes more or less. Once in a while, I'll listen in if I have some kind of outdoor event planned. I like all kinds of weather and it usually doesn't stop me from my plans.

[yfdgricker]

The National Weather Service, in addition to using weather radar, also relies on trained weather spotters to determine whether or not to issue a Tornado Warning. Most of the spotters are amateur radio operators. I am a trained amateur radio weather spotter for the NWS. We get training every year by the NWS. They walk us through identifying a variety of severe weather phenomena. We are trained to look for tornados (rotation touching the ground), funnel clouds (rotation still in the air, not making ground contact) and wall clouds (a well defined wall of clouds which indicate two sharp contast in conditions which can spawn tornados) Should one of our spotters see any of these items, we radio it to a central Net control for the county we are in. They then immediately refer it to the NWS. The NWS takes the spotter info and compares it to their radar reports and then issues a Tornado Warning if they feel it is necessary. The spotters also contiue to track the object as it passes through the county. You may see the term "SkyWarn" and/or the Skywarn logo on vehicles, those are crazy people like me who go out and watch the skys when the weather get's bad. We get 'activated' when the weather gets bad at the NWS request. If you are really nervous about the weather and tornado warnings, go to your local Radio Shack and buy a cheap handheld scanner (www.radioshack.com). They have a Pro 82 Handheld for $79.00. You said you live in Niles so program in 146.970 for the Trumbull County Skywarn repeater. Then whenever there is severe weather ,go to that frequency and you can hear where the bad weather is heading  via the spotters.  

Here are some links for more information...
Mahoning County Skywarn... http://www.mahoningskywarn.org/
(Sorry Trumbull doesn't have a web site for their skywarn that I can find)
Trumbull County Skywarn Repeater...146.970
Mahoning County Skywarn Repeater...146.745

If you get a scanner or just want more information about the Skywarn program, drop me an email or come to one of the meetings of the Greater Youngstown Monitoring Association meetings. Several Skywarn Spotters are in that club and we are more than happy to answer any questions or show you what you can listen to with a scanner radion.

http://www.steelvalleywebdesign.com/gyma

I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have, just post it here. Thanks

Greg Ricker
W8YFD, Amateur Radio Operator and Skywarn Spotter

[jay]

Modern technology allows us to use radar to spot threatening cloud formations and to issue warnings even though a tornado may never actually form.

[Autumn Online]

  Hello there, I have to thank everyone who answered my question about the area's health care.  Really appreciate it, and took all info into consideration.  

My next question is concerning the weather...I am originally from far northeast Ohio, and we rarely have tornadoes there.  Since I have lived here in the Youngstown area (Niles in particular) we have had two warnings with the sirens sounding full force.  This is scary to a new comer!!!  I have heard of the F5 tornado of 1985, and I have to say this really terrifies me!!  Is it reasonable to be concerned about tornadoes in this area?  Or would you just say they are just very cautious?  I'd appreciate any settling info anyone might have, as I have to admit I have really worried about this!  

Thanks a lot for all of your input!  This is a *wonderful* messege board and I'm really glad to be able to have this resource to connect to the community!