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CANWARN is a volunteer organization
of ham radio operators who report severe weather when they see it to Environment
Canada. What they do is called ground-truthing. They confirm on the ground
what satellites and radars see in the atmosphere. When Environment Canada's
weather centres issue severe weather watches or warnings, they alert the
CANWARN volunteers at the organization's regional stations in the affected
areas. The volunteers contact other CANWARN members on the ham radio, tell
them a watch or warning has been issued and ask them to report signs of
approaching severe weather. These include lightning, hail, cumulonimbus
clouds or as they are known in the trade CBs, and funnel clouds, which
if they touch down are then called tornadoes.
CANWARN is organised in local networks.
When CANWARN members spot severe weather, they send their reports to the
CANWARN network controller who forwards them to Environment Canada's severe
weather office in Toronto using either a special telephone line or the
CANWARN web page. At the weather office, the severe weather meteorologist
combines the data from the satellites and radar with the information from
the ground to refine the forecast or prepare a severe weather watch or
warning. In Ontario, CANWARN stations are equipped with computers, printers,
and ham radio equipment, and are located in community centres such as airports,
police stations and senior citizens complexes.
Expanding their community service
Ham or amateur radio operators have
long played important roles in their communities, particularly during emergencies.
These men and women run very high frequency, VHF, or ultra high frequency,
UHF, radios from their homes, offices, cars or trucks and so are in a good
position to help when normal lines of communication have been knocked out
by a tornado, fire or explosion. 
Their roles expanded after the Edmonton
tornado on July 31, 1987. The tornado which had winds of more than 400
kilometres an hour ploughed through the Alberta city in the mid afternoon
killing 27 people, injuring 253 others and causing more than $250 million
in damage. The report on the Edmonton tornado and the weather warning system,
known informally as the Hage report, said Environment Canada should solicit
the help of amateur radio operators in the severe weather watch and warning
program.
Within a week of the report's publication,
Environment Canada had trained more than 120 ham radio operators in the
Windsor area to detect severe weather. At first CANWARN operated primarily
in southwestern Ontario. Today, there are CANWARN stations in towns and
cities from Windsor through to eastern Ontario and Parry Sound on Georgian
Bay. There are also CANWARN stations in Northwestern Ontario, including
places like Thunder Bay, Fort Frances, Dryden, and Kenora. CANWARN volunteers
cover most of the areas of Ontario that are likely to have severe weather.
CANWARN is active (to varying degrees) in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Environment Canada trains ham radio
operators to spot and report severe weather. They learn about the structure
of storms, the types of clouds to watch for and what the department's severe
weather watches and warnings mean. All CANWARN volunteers are encouraged
to sign up for the refresher courses which the department offers each year.
Any licenced ham radio operator may become a CANWARN volunteer. Men and
women who are studying for their licences or are listeners of short wave
radios may join CANWARN as associate volunteers.
For information about CANWARN
please send an email to: Canwarn.OntarioRegion@ec.gc.ca
CANWARN TRAINING
DATES 2011
(updated
June 4 2011)
Folks, the CANWARN training for Southern,
Central and Northeastern Ontario has now been completed. There were a number
of venues with very strong turnouts and I'd once again like to thank those
of you who took the time out of their busy schedules to attend a nearby
training session. The training sessions in Northwestern Ontario will take
place on the week of June 13th at the following dates and locations…
- Monday, June 13th 7 PM - Thunder
Bay - McIntyre Building Confederation College, William and Edward Streets..Room
195
- Tuesday, June 14th 7 PM - Fort
Frances/Emo - Emo-Lavallee Community Centre, 78 Colonization Road, Emo
- Wednesday, June 15th 7 PM - Kenora
- City of Kenora Emergency Services Facility & Regional Training Centre,
100 14th Street North.
-Thursday, June 16th 7 PM - Dryden
- Dryden Fire Services Training Room, 189 Colonization Avenue, Dryden
I would encourage anyone who is available
to come out to attend a session near them.
In addition, as promised to those
of you who have already attended a session and would like to refresh themselves
on the content of the presentation, I have attached both a Reporting Tip
Sheet to remind you of the weather phenomena we are interested in getting
reports on…as well as a Weather Resource list that includes a variety of
websites and books to help reinforce and consolidate the material covered
during the training. I'll resend this information after the training has
completed in Northwestern Ontario to ensure all of the newest members of
the program receive it.
<<CANWARN Reporting Info.doc>>
<<Weather Resources June 2011.doc>>
In the wake of the tragic loss of
life due to the record number of tornadoes in the United States this spring
and the fact that our severe weather season could soon start to become
more active…I'd like to again thank you all for being a part of this very
important program and to ask you to be particularly vigilant during upcoming
storm events this summer.
Regards,
Geoff Coulson
Warning Preparedness Meteorologist
|
Météorologue de sensibilisation
aux conditions menaçantes
Ontario Region Client Services |
Service à la clientèle,
Région de l'Ontario
Environment Canada | Environnement
Canada
Goverment of Canada | Gouvernement
du Canada
4905 Dufferin St | 4905 rue Dufferin
Toronto, ON M3H 5T4
Geoff.Coulson@ec.gc.ca
Telephone | Téléphone
416-739-4466
Facsimile | Télécopieur
416-739-4603
Website | Site Web www.weatheroffice.gc.ca
CANWARN Reporting Info.doc: Download
Weather Resources June 2011.doc:
Download |
|
Note: In an effort to
update the list of Canwarn operational frequencies all members are asked
to review the list posted below and report any errors or omissions.
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