Weather is very important in Alaskan everyday lives. We are slowly getting our SKYWARN program off the ground. I’ve put out some info on the first step, that involves you getting your weather spotter qualifications. Some of us that have been around in Alaska have a lot of experience figuring out what is going to happened base on various weather forecasting techniques we have used ourselves, from past experiences. Here at Matsu we are asking for feedback and info on the water in your area, so that we can assist Emergency Services and the Anchorage and Fairbanks Weather Forecasting Offices. We have more eyes on the ground with communications capabilities to provide a great service to our neighbors to possibly get warnings out to provide time to get to higher ground than any of the commercial groups. They have a lot of automatic sensors but human eyeballs can add so much more.
Below are the links to submit a flooding or weather report. Harry/AL6F is our SKYWARN manager and is out of the Fairbanks office. You can send Winlink MSG to him (AL6F) or the Fairbanks Weather office (KL7FWX). CCing the opposite weather office would be good also that way they can back each other up. Also please send me a copy so I can update MATSU Emergency Services. Don/KL7JFT .
Email the River Forecast Center/ RFC at and we will be sure to share with both weather forecast offices.
Now if you are planning a trip, check these sites out to see what the river situation is and notice the grayed area south is the Anchorage Office AO and the green area north is the Fairbanks office AO
Alaska and Nation Wide Current Fire Map
Wind Chill Calculator (weather.gov)
Weather Spotter Training. Now that we may have some times on our hands, folks that are interested in becoming a weather spotter and joining our new SKYWARN network, now is the time. The below link will connect you to the Anchorage NWS site where you can do the training over the internet. Now you don’t have to join the weather spotter group unless you want to, but if you would like to join the SKYWARN system, this is the first step. Now we don’t have hurricanes, tornado’s or typhoons, but we have sever weather, earthquakes, high winds, snow storms and volcanoes. So complete the Course, send me a copy of your certificate to KL7JFT. Then we will begin the SKYWARN training. Due to the limited amount of weather reporting systems and folks to report this info, we will be filling a great need across the state. Thanks to Harry/AL6F, the Fairbanks NWS operator for getting this program off the ground.
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What do weather spotters report?
Significant or hazardous weather in Southcentral Alaska may include:
Severe weather
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Urban and/or small stream flooding
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Winter weather
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The links below will get you to the various SKYWARN training programs.
ADDITIONAL WEATHER RELATED TRAINING
EXAMPLE OF A SKYWARN PROGRAM IN OPERATION