Saturday and Sunday, January 24th and 25th, Winter Storm Fern struck Centre County and really all of Pennsylvania. Centre County ARES activated to provide local weather reports to the National Weather Service State College Office (NWS CTP) and to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA). PEMA activated the Auxiliary Communications System with amateur radio operators staffing the PEMA station KB3NIA at the Commonwealth EOC near Harrisburg. Depending on where you were Fern dumped between seven and 15 inches of snow on the County. Amateur Radio Operators were active throughout the storm.
Twelve Amateur Radio Operators made twenty-one temperature and snowfall reports throughout the day on the local Amateur Radio Repeaters; 146.850, W3YA: 146.750 W3GA: 443.425, K3HOT: 146.700, W3VI (Huntingdon Co.). Twenty one reports came in from Centre, Huntingdon, and Blair Counties. Greg, K3HOTmonitored the K3HOT repeater for traffic from the Dauphin County area and relayed that to NWS CTP.
Fortunately, the NWS warnings were sufficient for people, businesses, and governments to prepare so there were no reports of loss of life, injuries, or damages.
Here’s a list of Amateur Radio Operators, and their county, who participated throughout the day:
- W3SWL, Centre
- KB3KPP, Centre
- K3BFP, Huntingdon
- W3DLD, Centre
- N3LI, Centre
- K3DWD, Centre
- KC3WXS, Centre
- W3KCK, Centre
- N3MON, Blair
- K3CWP, Centre
- K3SBA, Centre
- K3HOT, Centre
Members of the Philipsburg Amateur Radio Association also participated in the Moshannon Valley area and reported separately.
Many thanks to everyone who participated by donating their time, effort, and equipment to the event.