Author: Darrell Davis KT4WX

SUBTROPICAL STORM ALBERTO NOW IN THE CENTRAL EASTERN GULF
ONLY WATCH AND OR WARNING ACTIVE:  TROPICAL STORM WARNING FOR COASTAL PASCO COUNTY.  ALBERTO MOVING AWAY FROM THE AREA.

SITUATION:  As of 1700 EDT, the center of Subtropical Storm Alberto was located about 165 miles west of Tampa.  The storm is moving toward the north-northwest near 12 miles per hour with maximum sustained winds at 50 miles per hour. A north-northwest motion with some decrease in forward speed is expected tonight. A north-northwestward to northward motion is expected Monday through Wednesday. On the forecast track, the center of Alberto will move over the northern Gulf of Mexico tonight and approach the northern Gulf Coast in the warning area on Monday.  According to the 1700 EDT Hurricane Local Statement issued by the NWS Office in Ruskin nearly all of the storm impacts are mostly focused on Pasco County and the counties along the coast north of Pasco County.

As of 1700 EDT, all Tropical Storm Warnings had been discontinued for the coastal counties of the ARRL West Central Florida Section, except for Pasco County, as the storm moves to the north and north-northwest.  The Flood Watch that was due to expire Monday evening was discontinued earlier this afternoon.

IMPACTS:  Impacts to the ARRL West Central Florida Section will now lessen over the next 24 hours from the wind and flooding due to excessive rain, but there is still a slight risk of tornadoes on the outer feeder bands now crossing the state as well as wind gusts from 25 to 30 mph.

ACTION:  At this time ARRL West Central Florida ARES is still at a Level 3 activation (Stand By) in case of any activation of any of our local ARES or ACS groups along the coastal counties of the West Central Florida Section.  None of our ARES groups have had any requests to activate in the West Central Florida Section from any of our served agencies.  The likelihood of ARES activation is now decreasing, due to the minimal impact that Alberto has had on the West Central Florida Section and is continuing to decrease a Alberto moves away.  Discontinuation of the Level 3 activation is nearly certain to be in the next 24 hours and once all Tropical Storm Warnings for Pasco County are discontinued, West Central Florida Section ARES will discontinue the Level 3 activation.  All ARES, ACS, and CERT personnel should check their equipment, supplies, and sources of emergency power for proper status and everyone should continue to monitor the latest advisories issued by the National Hurricane Center or by the National Weather Service Office in Ruskin.

The next scheduled WCF Section Special Bulletin will be issued tomorrow following the 1100 EDT National Hurricane Center advisory unless conditions warrant another bulletin prior to that time.

END OF SPECIAL BULLETIN

SUBTROPICAL STORM ALBERTO NOW IN THE SOUTHERN GULF
TROPICAL STORM WARNINGS FOR COASTAL PORTIONS OF WCF COUNTIES.  FLOOD WATCH FOR ALL WCF SECTION COUNTIES.

SITUATION:  As of 1700 EDT, the center of Subtropical Storm Alberto has finally emerged into the southern Gulf of Mexico about 330 miles south-southwest of Tampa Bay.  Alberto has maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour and is moving towards the north at 10 miles per hour and is expected to turn slightly north-northeast and then turn again slightly to the north-northwest before making projected landfall on the Alabama or western Florida panhandle coastline sometime Monday afternoon.  According to the 1700 EDT Hurricane Local Statement issued by the NWS Office in Ruskin, “Subtropical Storm Alberto is forecast to strengthen while moving northward over the Gulf of Mexico and will impact West Central and Southwest Florida tonight into Sunday night. The primary concerns at this time are storm surge flooding along the Citrus and Levy county coasts, heavy rainfall across the area causing localized flooding, and tropical storm force winds, mainly close to the coast from Tampa Bay south.”

As of 1700 EDT, the coastal portions of Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee, Hillsborough, Pasco and all of Pinellas counties, which is all the coastal counties of the ARRL West Central Florida Section, were upgraded from Tropical Storm Watches to Tropical Storm Warnings.  A Flood Watch went into effect earlier this afternoon and will remain in effect until the evening of Monday May 28 for all counties in the ARRL West Central Florida Section.

IMPACTS:  Impacts to the ARRL West Central Florida Section include possible tropical storm force winds from coastal Hillsborough County to Charlotte, and possible flooding due to heavy rainfall for all the counties of the ARRL West Central Florida Section.

ACTION:  At this time ARRL West Central Florida ARES is going to a Level 3 activation (Stand By) in case of any activation of any of our local ARES or ACS groups along the coastal counties of the West Central Florida Section.  At this time, we are not aware of any ARES activations in the West Central Florida Section or requests for assistance from any of our served agencies.  However this could change tonight or during the day tomorrow.  All ARES, ACS, and CERT personnel should check their equipment, supplies, and sources of emergency power for proper status and everyone should continue to monitor the latest advisories issued by the National Hurricane Center or by the National Weather Service Office in Ruskin.

The next scheduled WCF Section Special Bulletin will be issued tomorrow following the 1100 EDT National Hurricane Center advisory unless conditions warrant another bulletin prior to that time.

END OF SPECIAL BULLETIN

SECTION NET CANCELLATIONS FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

The Section ARES and Information Net for Saturday May 26th at 0730 on 3940 KHz and the Section ARES and Information Net for Monday May 28th at 1930 on the NI4CE Repeater System are cancelled in observance of Memorial Day.  The Section ARES and Information Net on Saturday at 0730 on 3940 KHz will resume normal operation on Saturday June 2nd and the Section ARES and Information Net on Monday at 1930 will resume normal operation on Monday June 4th.  All other Section nets will continue to operate their normal schedules through this period.

The ARRL West Central Florida Section wishes to encourage everyone to take time to remember those in our armed forces who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the giving of their life for our country and to those who in the law enforcement community who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the giving of their life for our community.

END OF PRESS RELEASE

MIKE BRESSE W2YS APPOINTED ASSISTANT SECTION MANAGER

On Thursday February 1st, 2018, Darrell Davis KT4WX appointed Mike Bresse W2YS as an Assistant Section Manager for the Special Project of the Bike MS Citrus Tour.  Bresse is the new amateur radio coordinator for the Bike MS Citrus Tour starting this year and had previously been the SAG vehicle coordinator for a number of years.  Jason Triolo KD4ACG stepped down as amateur radio coordinator after the Bike MS Citrus Tour in 2017, to concentrate on developing the Bike Marshal program.  Following the Bike MS Citrus Tour 2017, Darrell Davis KT4WX, the Section Manager for  the ARRL West Central Florida Section, in agreement with the Craig Shapiro N1MSS the logistics coordinator for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Jason Triolo KD4ACG the amateur radio communications coordinator Bike MS Citrus Tour in 2017, agreed that the West Central Florida Section would provide sponsorship of amateur radio communications for the  Bike MS Citrus Tour.  Volunteer levels had slightly declined and it was felt that with assistance of the West Central Florida Section that recruitment of new volunteers could fall under “one banner” and be given concerted effort.

Darrell Davis KT4WX, Section Manager of the West Central Florida Section made the following comments about sponsoring the Bike MS Citrus Tour: “Being that approximately 98 percent of the Bike MS Citrus Tour is in the Polk County and therefore the West Central Florida Section, it made sense for the communications group to have an official sponsoring organization and to help with recruitment of volunteers.  Everyone who has been doing all their respective assignments will continue to perform their assignments as they have been doing them with no changes.  Mike W2YS is the amateur radio coordinator and will continue in his new role as he has before and is doing a great job with the new Citrus Tour website as well.  We shall continue to welcome help from all those who have helped in the past and hopefully we will see a lot of new volunteers this year.”

The Bike MS Citrus Tour has had volunteer help for many years from counties in all three Florida Sections, with one volunteer traveling all the way from Coral Gables in Dade County.  The Bike MS Citrus Tour for 2018 will be Saturday May 5, 2018 and Sunday May 6, 2018.  New and returning volunteers are now being accepted.  If you are new you may register at the Bike MS Citrus Tour website at http://www.citrustour.org.  If you are a returning volunteer all you have to do is to login to the website with the username and password you previously used and upon login you will be asked to confirm all your contact information and preferences.

Note:  This WCF SECTION PRESS RELEASE has been edited to correct the name of the Bike MS Citrus Tour from MS Citrus Bike Tour.

END OF PRESS RELEASE

THE WCF PRESSER ISSUE #30 JANUARY 2018 IS NOW PUBLISHED

The WCF PRESSER Issue #30 January 2018, has been published on the Section website, and the ARRL website. An announcement of the publication of the WCF PRESSER will be disseminated on the ARRL remailer shortly.  Please note that the WCF PRESSER is no longer disseminated on the ARRL remailer due to the expanded graphical content in the WCF PRESSER.

For the PDF version of this newsletter and past issues in PDF format go to http://arrlwcf.org/home/the-wcf-section-presser-arrl-west-central-florida-section-news/.

Please note that there was no published issues of the WCF PRESSER for the months of October, November, and December 2017 due to the college and job workload of Darrell Davis KT4WX, the newsletter editor.   Our apologies to all for not having a WCF PRESSER for these past few months.

END OF PRESS RELEASE

KJ4KSG IS THE RECIPIENT OF THE 2017 WHITE AWARD

The recipient of the 2017 White Award will be Lemuel “Woody” Furman KJ4KSG who resides east of Bradenton in Manatee County.  Woody will be presented with the 2017 White Award at the ARRL forum at the Tampa Bay Hamfest on Saturday afternoon.

Woody is the Assistant Net Manager of the Eagle Net, the NTS traffic net of the ARRL West Central Florida Section,, and an ARRL Technical Specialist.  Woody was nominated due to his tireless work in keeping substitute Net Control Stations lined up (often on short notice) for the Eagle Net, helps Dave Rockwell W4PXE the Net Manager with collecting net control reports, and does this work often with ongoing health problems and even in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in which he sustained damage to his home.  Woody also assisted Ed Skalecki NI4MX with Manatee County ARES during Hurricane Irma when Ed was suddenly hospitalized right before Hurricane Irma made landfall on the Florida Peninsula.  Woody is also active in the Manatee Amateur Radio Club and the Bradenton Amateur Radio Club.

Woody is originally from the outer banks of North Carolina and was professionally a plummer.  Woody is also an amateur musician.

END OF PRESS RELEASE