Yes, it is upon us and I hope you are prepared. We have moved from the “busy” storm season of Spring to the time of watching the Gulf. It’s hurricane season, and right on queue there is a low developing in the GOM (Gulf of Mexico- new alphabet abbreviation I learned). Some of the models are sending the leadoff hitter to Texas. Now this won’t happen overnight, the coming to Texas that is, so we get to watch and plan ahead.

This brings with it more opportunity for the ARES community to evaluate a different level of preparation. With spring storms we watch the forecast and a few days out we start getting inundated with forecasts of severe storms for the area. Suddenly the day of disaster is here, and we wait and wait and BOOM! In a matter of an hour or so, the clouds boil up and the storms move thru our county and are gone. This season is a little different. For a few days the forecasters make predictions on category development and hurricane center tracks, and it appears there is more time to prepare. As the hurricane approaches the coast there will be warnings up, and the people are encouraged by the Governor to evacuate the low lying areas targeted by the storm. Shelters…. We may be involved with sheltering folks displaced by the storm. Think about longer term assignments at shelters, different communication needs, and privacy issues. And then if we are “lucky” we get some storms that move up and we get SKYWARN activations. Hopefully it’s just some needed summer rain, but these are related to a Hurricane and can get nasty also.

My point to all this is just this: Yep, it’s Summer and storm season is over, BUT, if it happens in the GOM and we are sheltering our friends from the coast, we can get taxed to our limits from an Operator standpoint. So it’s not a time to let our guard down, but to rethink how and what we can do to support our commitments to Service thru ARES.

I hope you get to enjoy Field Day out at Sherman Municipal Airport. I am looking forward to seeing you there, seeing the various operations and modes demonstrated, problems overcome and a generally good time. I will be making breakfast for those that endure the night and come out early Sunday morning. I’m planning on some bacon and pancakes so come enjoy the morning with us. The coffee will be ready about 8 am.

73
Rick
K5ECX