Skywarn Austria
| SKYWARN Austria | |
|---|---|
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| legal form |
Association ( ZVR : 607917321) |
| founding | 09/08/2003 |
| Seat | Aschach / Steyr , Upper Austria |
| Office | Adlwang |
| purpose | Organization for mobile severe weather reports and weather observation in Austria |
| Action space |
 Austria
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| Chair | Mathias Stampfl |
| Website | www.skywarn.at |
SKYWARN Austria is a non-profit organization whose principle ( Skywarn ) began in the USA in the 1970s. It was already recognized there that it is extremely important to warn the population in a targeted manner and in good time about severe weather - especially convective weather events such as tornadoes. Despite state -of-the- art technology such as Doppler radar , wind profilers , weather balloons, etc., even today it is not possible to say exactly when and where exactly hail , downbursts or tornadoes will occur and how strong these storm phenomena will be. In order to close this gap in Austria, the voluntary work of Stormchaser (in German Sturmjäger ) was established in the association .
About the association SKYWARN Austria
SKYWARN Austria is the first voluntary Austrian association for weather observation and storm reporting. Its active members are divided into storm chasers (storm chasers ) and storm spotters (storm observers).
While observers usually only follow a storm at a specific location, document it and, if necessary, pass on important messages to the SKYWARN Live Monitor (SLM) via the Internet, telephone or amateur radio, storm chasers hunt down storms with vehicles - sometimes up to 1000 km per day - to observe storms that appear particularly dangerous .
It is not uncommon for them to go to the area of the most violent turbulence (updraft area) directly in front of the core of the thunderstorm and report on what is happening in real time. If extreme weather phenomena occur, the members of SKYWARN Austria notify weather services, radio and television stations and emergency organizations. The media partners and the weather services can then forward important observations to the affected population in the form of warnings within a few minutes. These are also published on the club's website. In contrast to some private weather services , SKYWARN Austria only reports the "current situation" (for example: "The hail shower is now over location A and moving in direction B"), which the chasers and spotters themselves perceived Observation is reported.
This quality criterion gives the reports a high level of reliability and precision. This can prevent people from being surprised by storms completely unprepared and without warning and injuring or even fatalities.
At the same time, the storms are recorded in every phase of their development using a photo and video camera. This provides valuable information for research ( European Severe Storms Laboratory ). But the aim of the association is not only to warn the population through official weather services of storms that are currently taking place: By raising awareness, people can also understand which disasters storms can trigger, what they look like, i.e. H. how to recognize them, and especially how to protect yourself from them.
Since Austria is an alpine country and the road network is often insufficiently dense in some regions, it is always a challenge for the club's chasers to track and document severe storms in the Alps without putting themselves in greater danger. This explains one of the most important principles of SKYWARN Austria: “ A good chaser always stays dry! “This means that you avoid so-called core punch events if possible. H. Do not go into the area of the heaviest precipitation, where in addition to flooding, large hail or even tornadoes are to be feared in the immediate vicinity. The mountains also harbor dangers that should not be underestimated when chasing; In some cases, the view in valleys is very limited, so that approaching dangers such as flash floods , downbursts and rock falls cannot be recognized in time.
tasks and goals
The most important goals of the non-profit association SKYWARN Austria are:
- Free nowcasting weather reports / warnings across Austria via radio, television, internet, ...
- Several SKYWARN teams employed for the project on a voluntary basis and in line with the idea of non-profit making, which can be deployed anytime and anywhere in Austria to observe and follow potential storms and to report these observations in the event of extreme weather phenomena.
- Documentation of the event by means of photo and video for further analysis and research purposes
- Educating the population about storms and their consequences (raising awareness)
- Cooperation with the media, civil protection services, blue light organizations, meteorological institutions and research facilities (at national and international level)
- Creation of a spotter network with homogeneous distribution across Austria
- Analysis and forecasts for severe thunderstorms and other severe weather events
- Archiving and statistical processing of severe weather events
- Participation in national and international research projects
- Performing first aid tasks in the event of accidents and severe weather disasters
collaboration
SKYWARN Austria has not only made a name for itself in the national and international weather scene in recent years. Due to the large number of trained, voluntary members, numerous organizations and companies now rely on cooperation with SKYWARN Austria.
Weather service and disaster control:
- ZAMG (Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics) - Austrian state weather service: weather warnings, research
- Austro Control - Austrian Society for Civil Aviation: Weather warnings for flight operations
- State warning centers , such as those for Lower Austria
Science:
- TorDACH - research / case studies and archiving
- ESSL (European Severe Storms Laboratory) (especially ESWD ) - research / case studies and archiving
- ESN (European Skywarn Network) - Research / case studies and coordination of the international SKYWARN network
Media:
- ORF (Austrian Broadcasting) - public television: public relations and documentation material
- ATV (Austrian Television) - private television: public relations and documentation
- Life Radio Radio Station: Weather Alerts and Public Relations
- Antenne Steiermark and Antenne Salzburg - radio stations: weather warnings and public relations
- Small newspaper - public relations and documentation material
Other areas:
ÖVSV (Austrian Association of Experimental Transmitters) - representing the interests of radio amateurs in Austria: cooperation
history
In 2003, in addition to SKYWARN Switzerland and SKYWARN Germany, an association for mobile early weather detection - SKYWARN Austria - was established in Austria. In the same year, partnerships with the storm competence center TorDACH and its international successor ESSL were established. In 2004, "operational" operations began in the main season for the first time. Numerous volunteer weather observers or chasers have joined the association and support its principles and its early warning network.
In the following two years important partnerships arose with national weather services, such as the aviation weather service Austro Control or the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) or Meteomedia Austria (later Ubimet). In 2005 ATV became the association's first major media partner, and radio stations and other media also showed interest in the idea of SKYWARN Austria.
With the discontinuation of statistical records and analyzes of severe weather events in Austria by TorDACH Austria (successor only on a European basis is ESSL with its ESWD), these were continued privately by several SKYWARN members as part of the national project unwetterstatistik.at.
Since then, not only has the media interest in SKYWARN Austria increased. The network of voluntary storm monitors and storm chasers has increased significantly since that date, and the association currently has well over 100 voluntary members. There are also a large number of more or less active, all of them voluntary, reporters / observers who are registered in the SKYWARN Austria Forum.
The work
Below is a description of a typical process of how the voluntary chasing / spotting activities of the club members take place during a classic storm.
preparation
It starts with listening to the weather report daily and watching the latest weather model runs on the internet. If the weather in the coming days shows a tendency towards severe thunderstorms or general storms - announced fronts, thunderstorms, storms - the next step comes: The members of SKYWARN Austria find out about instability, dew points , wind directions and other weather values in order to decide where Severe weather in Austria are most likely. An assessment of the weather situation and a heavy thunderstorm forecast (a forecast of severe weather) are carried out by a dedicated team, which is made up of some members of the association. These heavy thunderstorm forecasts are also published on the club's website and are generally accessible. The main attention of chasers and spotters is then directed to the warned area.
Now the equipment (cameras, anemometer, emergency equipment, etc.) is prepared and the club members arrange to meet in chasing teams. It is decided which region to go to in order to be able to observe the most favorable storms.
Chasing
While the first storms are developing, the “real” work of the association's volunteer storm chasers is slowly beginning. The storm is approaching by car. At SKYWARN Austria, the chasing teams are equipped with notebooks and mobile internet in order to be able to follow the situation precisely at measuring stations, radar and satellite images. The chaser is under great time pressure, especially during the hunt itself and when approaching thunderstorm cells. This is why SKYWARN Austria uses mobile app applications and the SKYWARN Live Monitor, which is staffed by amateur meteorologists from the association and who, if necessary, guide the chasers through turbulent situations and take on an advisory role. The mobile app applications are used to immediately forward important changes in the atmosphere and observed severe weather reports. In the event of extreme weather conditions, direct telephone contact with the media, disaster control and weather services can be established, since, for example, in the event of a tornado event, seconds count in order to be able to warn the population in good time before the event.
In addition, these severe weather events are recorded by means of photos and films. It is also important to record the events, as the material can be used for later analysis and case studies.
Rework
Most of the time, violent storms leave their mark, regardless of whether it is hailstones, storm damage, flooding or the like. These are recorded by the association's storm experts, precisely documented and are used for statistical purposes and for further research projects of the professional weather service partners. The information of the population about the association SKYWARN Austria and its voluntary activities is perceived here.
a SKYWARN chasing team
Observe
Documentation of a super cell
Video documentation for research purposes
Documentation of a hail path
Storm damage analysis
literature
- Herfried Eisler, Peter Buschbeck: Skywarn Austria Chasing Guide . 2009.
Web links
- www.skywarn.at Homepage of SKYWARN Austria
- www.skywarn-slm.at/forum Interactive forum from SKYWARN Austria
- www.vereinsverzeichnis.at Portal for associations in Austria
- www.ngojobs.at Portal for volunteer work in Austria
proof
- Article ( Memento from August 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) In: Kleine Zeitung
- Article at ORF Carinthia
- Article at ORF Steiermark
- Article at ORF Tirol
- Article at ORF Steiermark
- Skywarn article at ATV
- Article at ORF NÖ
Individual evidence
- ↑ ZVR - Retrieved October 21, 2019
- ↑ Voluntary weather observation: "Skywarn Austria" - Organization for mobile weather warnings and weather observation
- ↑ Ubimet ( Memento of the original from November 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
