VoIP Hurricane Net Activation for Hurricane Oscar and Eastern Cuba Impact Secured on Sunday 10/20/24 at 11 PM EDT – Also Includes Saturday 10/19/24 Net Activation Report
Hello to all…
The following are VoIP Hurricane Net Activation Reports for Sunday 10/20/24 and the previous report for 10/19/24. The total number of reports for both days of activations are 24 reports with 70 volunteer hours generated. The reports for each individual activation are listed below:
VoIP Hurricane Net Activation Report – Hurricane Oscar for the Sunday 10/20/24:
On Sunday 10/20/24, Oscar made landfall late Sunday Afternoon in Eastern Cuba after making a landfall earlier in the day on Grand Inagua Island Bahamas. These areas are quite rural and Cuba has been dealing with a nationwide power outage over the last few days unrelated to the hurricane. While no direct Amateur Radio contact was made, utilizing online resources via social media, reports of wind damage, coastal storm surge and rain related flooding reports were received via these means along with limited weather station reporting. A total of 15 reports meeting criteria to submit to WX4NHC and 40 volunteer hours were generated during this activation. Special thanks to AE4WX-Mark, KK7AHR-George and KC5FM-Lloyd for their support during this activation. The report viewer link below shows the reports handled during this period:
https://www.voipwx.net/qilan/nhcwx/list_VOIP_records1?auth=OK
VoIP Hurricane Net Activation Report – Hurricane Oscar for the Saturday 10/19/24:
On Saturday 10/19/24, Oscar formed and rapidly intensified to a small but potent hurricane. This development resulted in a rapid activation of the VoIP Hurricane Net, WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center and the Hurricane Watch Net shortly before 3 PM EDT lasting through 10 PM EDT on Saturday 10/19/24. While no direct Amateur Radio contact with the affected area was obtained, a couple of online weather stations reported strong tropical storm force conditions before the stations were knocked offline. One of those reports were utilized in the Saturday 10/19/24 800 PM intermediate advisory. The maximum wind gust reported was 60 MPH in South Caicos Island in the Turks and Caicos Island chain. Many thanks to AE4WX-Mark, KK7AHR-George and KC5FM-Lloyd who were available to run the net and monitor activity. Approximately 30 hours of volunteer time was logged with a total of 9 reports of reporting criteria sent into WX4NHC. The complete list of reports can be seen on the VoIP Hurricane Net Report Viewer at the following link:
https://www.voipwx.net/qilan/nhcwx/list_VOIP_records1?auth=OK
At this time, Oscar is expected to remain below hurricane strength as it turns Northeast through the Bahamas and becomes absorbed in a frontal boundary. That said, as we saw this weekend, Oscar has had surprises in terms of intensity and we will monitor the progress of Oscar and any other developments in the Tropics closely. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!
73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net