Environment Canada enlists help of amateur radio

A report in the Canadian publication, The Edmonton Journal, has reported on how Environment Canada enlists the help of amateur radio operators around the province to keep an eye on the sky.

Fifty ham radio operators from the Edmonton area have taken a five-hour course on the basics of meteorology and what to look for in cloud formations.

Another 50 from central and southern Alberta took the same training, all of it intended to avoid false reporting of would-be major storms.

Now, whenever Environment Canada issues a severe weather watch, it alerts the network of amateur radio volunteers.

Volunteers then contact other members of the ham radio network, asking them to report signs of approaching
severe weather, including lightning, hail or funnel clouds etc.

That eyeball-to-radio system represents a final stage of Alberta's tornado-warning system.

Source: Wireless Institute of Australia