Hi folks. It is May 29 and it has cooled down somewhat in Ontario this week. However, it should start to recover starting tomorrow and by the time of my birthday on Sunday, it should be nice and warm and getting even warmer by next week. Not a whole lot to say this week, but I do have an announcement about a new NWR station coming next month, thanks to Ron Wilbanks from the NOAA Weather Radio and Weatheradio Canada Facebook group. If only Weatheradio Canada had continued the original plan of expanding, rather than contraction!
“Effective June 21, 2024, NWR service will begin from a new transmitter located in Providence Forge, Virginia. Station KAE42, operating on a frequency of 162.500 Megaherz and served by the Wakefield, Virginia Weather Forecast Office, will begin a 24-hr broadcast of weather forecasts and weather warnings to better serve the residents of East Central Virginia, including western portions of the Peninsula and Middle Peninsula.” https://www.weather.gov/media/notification/pdf_2023_24/scn24-57_providence_forge_nwr_transmitter_service.pdf
For the next few weeks throughout the summer I will be inserting links to videos like I did last week, relating mostly to weather and some silly stuff to take our minds off how the world is going crazy for a few minutes or so. I will be giving you all sorts of things, from Youtube videos by us regular folk, to maybe even a TV show for preschoolers. Also because on Thursday there was a CANWARN training session over Zoom, I thought it would be appropriate to provide something related to thunderstorms and how kids get easily scared when they happen. Even I as a 50 something adult is a big chicken, when it comes to thunder and lightning unless I’m safe inside. Why shouldn’t I be? I am also CANWARN trained and fortunately, I haven’t had to use any of what I had learned and relearned each year, from the training sessions face to face, as apposed to over a phone and a bunch of other computers and all the distractions that life can bring. Anyway, let’s distract ourselves with the RWTs this week. By the way, if you live in Canada you may recognize the voice of the narrator and the show itself. https://youtu.be/nZu2DPn5WDU?si=HAkmSn2XTOwT8E5z
From The Author:
Buffalo KEB98 (162.550 MHz) (RWT) 11:00 AM EDT. Toronto (XMJ225 162.400 MHz.) (RWT) 12:01 PM EDT. Niagara VAD 320 (162.475 MHz) (RWT) 12:01 PM EDT.
Jacques Pannetier:
Weekly Test Report!
KIG60 162.400MHz Mt. Mansfield, 11:34AM
XLR412 162.475MHz Sherbrooke, QC: 12:02PM
XLM300 162.550MHz Montréal, QC: 12:06PM*
(Eastern time)
Notes:
-Finally, a full round-up! All 3 transmitters, reporting!
-XLM300 Montréal: More problems? At noon, the transmitter was broadcasting silence. Programming went back at 12:06PM and started immediately with the Required Weekly Test and then resumed normal programming. As of 12:20PM, it seems it is holding on.
Hi folks. It is May 22 and it actually feels closer to summer. It actually was warm enough for anyone to ware shorts and a t-shirt, or even a muscle shirt outside without feeling uncomfortable. For me, I took advantage of this warmth over the long weekend and now it is back to more typical Mayweather for the rest of the month, with rain possibly rearing its head throughout the next few days.
On Friday I got a follow up email from NWR on something I had reported about Buffalo KEB98 being either off the air, or repeating a stay alive message. On May 8th it was off the air for a time and on May 15th it had been looping a stay alive message, stating that the NWR station was currently off the air and that listeners should use the website and maybe, listen to another surrounding WXR. Well, both times the problem had been taken care of by the time the RWT had happened. It was Sherri Glover who had called me back, even though I did not mention my phone number in my message on the NWR voicemail. Anyway, I did send her an email and I will make sure that she gets this post, so that she knows that she’s been acknowledged. Anyway, let’s acknowledge the RWTs this week. Before that, here is something for you to listen to, while you need something to keep your brain stimulated. I like weather and I like music too. I also like cars and of course, I also am a fan of radios. Have you ever thought how we got from having no radio in the car, to having not just a receiver, but also the ability to listen to music on all sorts of formats? Unfortunately, I don’t know how WX radios were introduced into cars and school buses, but I would like to find that out and maybe, do something on that in a future newsletter post. Anyway, check this out and some of you may know the voice telling the story, while others may not. https://youtu.be/_KJ60im4KAc?si=t5J3aY0-48wlh1Zr
Bill Curry:
Required Weekly SAME test received
XLW573 Yarmouth, Nova Scotia 162.475
12:55 PM – 22 May 2024
From The Author:
Buffalo KEB98 (162.550 MHz) (RWT) 11:04 AM EDT. Toronto (XMJ225 162.400 MHz.) (RWT) 12:00 PM EDT. Niagara VAD 320 (162.475 MHz) (RWT) 12:01 PM EDT.
Gary Ranson:
Required Weekly SAME test received
XLK497 Middleton, Nova Scotia 162.550 MHz
12:01PM ADT – 22 May 2024
Sangean CL-100
VE1HFM
Jacques Pannetier:
Weekly Test Report!
KIG60 162.400MHz Mt. Mansfield, VT: 11:03AM
XLM300 162.550MHz Montréal, QC: 12:02PM
XLR412 162.475MHz Sherbrooke, QC: *No signal
(Eastern time)
Notes:
-Observations from Montréal: Signal strength is weak from Mt. Mansfield VT and Sherbrooke QC couldn’t be heard at all.
Hi folks. It is May 15 and two more days before the long weekend in Ontario. It will feel like May throughout Canada and hopefully, extreme warmth will come and heat things up before my birthday in June. However, there is that price to be payed with the potential smoke from wild fires from Alberta and British Columbia and I say this, knowing I have family in one of the two provinces I had mentioned, who are here in Ontario visiting. They are set to be departing this evening westward by plain and I hope that the weather doesn’t cause any havoc, with them leaving Toronto and flying west bound.
Speaking of June, I will be doing another post on iNotify and the anniversary and I hope to have something new to talk about, when it comes to any changes in the software upgrade and maybe, the voices and language cadences, such as various words spoken in French. Hopefully this will be addressed throughout Canada and not just in Ontario before long. Let’s find out what our radios are telling us and… what we all have to say about the same weekly alert tests.
From The Author:
Buffalo KEB98 (162.550 MHz) (RWT) 11:03 AM EDT. Toronto (XMJ225 162.400 MHz.) (RWT) 12:02 PM EDT. Niagara VAD 320 (162.475 MHz) (RWT) 12:02 PM EDT.
Bill Curry:
Required Weekly SAME test received
XLW573 Yarmouth, Nova Scotia 162.475
12:05 PM – 15 May 2024
Jacques Pannetier:
Weekly Test Report! – Once again, it is a severely truncated report.
KIG60 162.400MHz Mt. Mansfield, VT: 11:30AM
(Eastern time)
Notes: -XLM300 Montréal was fully functional a few days ago, but once again at the time of the weekly test, it is again in “watchdog mode”.
-XLR412 Sherbrooke continues to be in “watchdog mode”. It should be fully functional hopefully in time for the next weekly test.
-1050Hz test: Passed (from KIG60)
-Observations from Montréal: Signal strength is fair to good from KIG60 Mt. Mansfield VT (1 to 2 bars on the Midland WR400) while extremely weak and at times inaudible from XLR412 Sherbrooke QC.
Hi folks. It is May 8 and because it is severe weather season (summer severe weather season in Canada) let’s remind ourselves what the difference is between a watch, a warning and a weather advisory. This video should help to remind all of us, whether we know the difference like the back of our hands or not. https://youtu.be/20VxC7BcHns?si=IlAsO52UTikpLCGq
Looks like Buffalo KEB98 had an outage and I called NWR’s SAME line to report it, as things were getting back to normal just after 10:00 AM. What had happened was that there was no stay alive message and there was dead air, which would switch to the WXR being off the air completely and going back and forth. This would happen until I had heard a buzzing and an Australian female voice rattling off a bunch of numbers, with everything getting back to normal after a minute of buzzing and no speech besides the female from down under. Needless to say, it looks likely that Buffalo KEB98 will be on for today’s RWT after 11:00 AM. Speaking of which, let’s see what is happening with Buffalo and other stations except for some in Quebec, which are currently in watchdog mode. Is there more to this story? Keep reading and you will find out and if it isn’t in this post, stay tuned to future posts… like in August.
From The Author:
Buffalo KEB98 (162.550 MHz) (RWT) 11:02 AM EDT. Toronto (XMJ225 162.400 MHz.) (RWT) 12:01 PM EDT. Niagara VAD 320 (162.475 MHz) (RWT) 12:02 PM EDT.
-XLM300 Montréal and XLR412 Sherbrooke are in watchdog mode for the 2nd week in a row.
Gord and myself got an update from Environment Canada. With Gord’s permission, here’s the latest news:
About XLM300 Montréal, it’s REALLY not looking good. The site has been vandalized. So it will definitively take a while for service to resume.
As for XLR412 Sherbrooke, it may be a seperate problem that is affecting that station. Environment Canada is looking into it.
So that’s how it goes. I’m heartbroken to hear that the Montréal site has been vandalized. As a Montrealer, I have to say that I’m not especially surprised. Vandalism is becoming a major problem in some parts of the city, especially downtown.
Thanks to Fred Voglmaier for getting back to Jaques and myself on this matter.
Hi folks. It is May 1 and we have turned the corner, with one or two more to go before we reach the peak of the heat. At least, I hope we get plenty of heat this summer. Anyway, I hope that you had a chance to read the latest Weather Radio Listeners Newsletter post, as there was not a lot to it this time. If you remember April 8th 2014, the change in alerts is one thing I had gone over again, because I felt I had to update what I had said back then to today’s reliance on Weather apps, as well as Weatheradio Canada and NWR. There are some other things in there, but I will leave it to you to read the newsletter, if you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet. Anyway, let’s check out what our radios are telling us with the RWT and RMT alerts for today.
Required Weekly Test for 5/1/ 2024 recieved at 11:29 AM EDT in Kendallville, IN from KXI94 in Amgola, IN.
Michael Foy:
Test report for Wednesday, May 1st.
WXK45 Littlefork, Minnesota (162.550 MHz) – RWT sent at 12:00PM CDT.
VDB224 Fort Frances, Ontario (162.400 MHz) – Couldn’t get due to the transmitter being offline at the time of testing.
Jacques Pannetier:
Monthly and Weekly Test Report!KIG60 162.400MHz Mt. Mansfield, VT: RWT at 11:40AM
XLM300 162.550MHz Montréal, QC: 12:01PM: No alert*XLR412 162.475MHz Sherbrooke, QC*: No alert (Eastern time)
Notes: -Observations from Montréal: Signal strength is fair to good from Mt. Mansfield VT while still extremely weak from Sherbrooke QC.
-1050Hz test: Passed, with KIG60
*Both XLR412 Sherbrooke and XLM300 Montréal are looping. “Due to technical difficulties, some messages may be delayed”. In the case of XLM300, it is also broadcasting stale infos… from a week ago, April 24th ?!? Notifications will be sent to Environment Canada.
**: Save Environment Canada’s weather radio transmitters! XLR412 Sherbrooke QC is among the original 48 transmitters all across Canada that are considered for decommission. Show your support for your weather radio (and alert!) service! Call or send an e-mail to: Environment Canada Weatheradio: radio@ec.gc.ca Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault: Phone: 613-992-6779 E-Mail: ministre-minister@ec.gc.ca Voilà!
Weather Radio Listeners Newsletter for May 1st 2024
Hello and welcome to issue number 2. Unfortunately, this is going to be a rather slimmed down issue and rather boring. I apologize for that, but what I do have is important. Nothing new to say on the change in the broadcast cycle for Weatheradio Canada, but there are some important points being made here throughout this blog post . Anyway, enjoy.
Here is something which had come up on Facebook and hasn’t really taken off, as a long conversation chain and it may sound like a grumpy old man complaining, but I see this as something worth talking about. This will also tie into something further down which I have updated from 10 years ago. Thanks to Jacques Pannetier for bringing this up, as no two watch or warning situation is the same..
On February 27 2024 Environment Canada had issued several warnings for a specific area during the afternoon, just about when the overnight forecasts are generated. They include a Wind Warning anda Flash Freeze Warning. What may bother some people is that these warnings are issued by mid-day (the day before) for weather events that will occur… the next NIGHT. 30-36 hours ahead of time. Sure, as soon as meteorologists are sure of their forecast, the sooner they’ll sound the alarm, the better. We all appreciate that. We have also been told by meteorologists and by warning statements themselves (when our weather radio sounds the alarm) there is also that reasonable expectation there is an IMMINENT or already occuring life-threatening weather event and not for something that will occur by the end of next day. The way the network works, these warnings won’t get re-issued tomorrow, so they may be likely to get forgotten, or even worse, assumed that the danger is already over, when it’s not and I will have more on that further down.
As someone who is CANWARN trained and not just a listener, I believe that it depends on the warning or watch. With the wind warning, I have no problem with it being issued 24 to 36 hours ahead of time and the same with the winter storm watch or warning. The flash freeze warning, it’s a little bit far ahead with leadtime And I would’ve expected it closer to the possible event. The reason may be because of people doing the commute from home to work and back again, the next day. Maybe this was the only way that EccC could give us a sufficient heads up, that something bad is coming so people can prepare for it and prepare for the possible worst.
The Winter Storm Warning is an interesting case. Remember, for YEARS it’s been a MAJOR complaint as some people were fed up with being awakened at 4:00 AM by the siren of their weather radio for a weather event that will occur… 24 hours later! Some of the same people probably said that they might even get rid of their weather radios altogether because of that! At night, they want their weather radios to only sound the alarm for immediate weather events (like Severe Thunderstorms, etc), so they can normally sleep well! The solution was that NWR and Weatheradio Canada change their config, so they’ll wait until 6AM to sound the alarm on your… mine… our weather radios and on both WXR networks. It’s nice to get 2 more hours of extra sleep, unless you get up before then. Not much, but still welcome for some! 🙂 The point is, it shows how problematic such advanced warnings can be an annoyance to some, especially when they are issued for more then 24 hours ahead of time.
My point of view is about weather radios. The problem I see with such advanced warnings is that SAME alerts last for a maximum of 6 hours, not days! I would bet that in the mind of most people, when a new day comes by, it starts with a clean slate… ’til a new alert comes by. Yesterday’s warnings are already behind them and therefore forgotten. So I feel there’s a problem, unless you have weather apps pushing alerts to your phone, but more on that further down. Delaying these warnings on the weather radio network isn’t good, because those alerts are issued during the day and not at night when everyone is sleeping! So you don’t want the weather radio network to fall behind when these warnings are sent everywhere else. So re-issuing these far ahead warnings the next day to avoid some misleading assumptions that the storm is already over because it’s a new day? Maybe. Though I feel it might bring more confusion too. 2 alerts, 2 different weather events? There is that.
Lastly, looking at the poor shape i-Notify is in, several years after it’s been implemented… and we have seen only very little improvements over the time, so if this requires major changes to their network, it’s a wild guess whether it’s going to get done, at all. Such a long post to just say that I don’t know what should be done about such far away warnings. 🙂 I feel the status quo isn’t an option, though… When it comes to winter storms, I wonder if they should issue an ADVISORY first… and a warning on the next day? I wonder… It opens another can of worms. Anyway, just a thought…
It’s actually a good thought and it brings up our own responsibilities to keep these lengthy alerts in mind and take responsibility for preparing for them, in case things go very wrong. Bruce Jones of Midland Radio has talked for years, about preparing for weather events which could be of possible significance to the population and this includes those of us in Canada. We may not have that many hurricanes, but it doesn’t mean that we are out of the woods when it comes to severe weather and the type which can halt electricity, or cause us to be injured or worse.
We can very easily keep up with alerts like this using various iOS and android apps, which actually update alerts when they are needed. This is also why I believe WeatherCAN should also have the option to be updated during an alert period and not just when a new alert is issued, or ended. EccC were afraid of over notification and I understand that, but at the same time there may be people who have downloaded the app, who are obviously involved with them on some level. They may be involved as a volunteer with CANWARN, and, or, as a listener of Weatheradio Canada. I am all of the above and I make sure to be up on which areas are alerted in the broadcast, when an advisory, watch or warning comes down. So, in order to keep the alerts in mind, maybe WeatherCAN should consider their apprehension to overnotify and give us the choice, of whether we wish to be notified or not, during Weather events as they go on and not just the beginning and end of something. After all, some of us may not check our phones to see if the alert is still in effect, especially if we are busy and not thinking about what had made the phone ding.
When it comes to Weatheradio Canada, alerts will also be quietly updated and not reissued (as was said above) and it is hoped, that listeners will check back every 6 to 12 hours to hear if an alert or alerts are still active. If they are, keep watch and if you are a trained weather spotter, you know what to report. If not, be safe.
As someone who sleeps with a WX radio on at night and when taking naps, I don’t care as long as everything is working and we are being updated on everything in a timely manner. I have had to complain about newly issued alerts coming in late, but that is a whole other kettle of fish. By the way, I wonder why on The Flintstones, Barney Rubble (voiced by Daws Butler) wants screwed up that phrase saying “kettle of donuts”. Anyway, I digress. I don’t have a problem with alerts going out when they do, as it is all about information about something which is quite possibly going to affect us significantly. Not everyone drives and some of us are pedestrians not by choice, but by necessity. In my case, because I’m blind I am exactly that and also using public transit to get around is another necessity and keeping up with the weather as well as when the next bus can be approaching my area is important. So, having not just a VHF radio service provides redundancy, along with Weather applications as well as multiple transit apps which I use to get around safely. So, relying on WXRs alone is not enough now and the same with just looking on websites, in order to get the latest on possible severe weather. The same is true of transit schedules and many things can botch things up like delays due to accidents or us being held up by some unforeseen emergency at home, before we plan to go out. So, we need to be armed with our phones, apps and radios in order to be safe these days and yes, this also applies to Weather alerts and those that were issued a day before severe weather events.
THE WATCHDOG REPORT If you hear anything that doesn’t sound right on your local Weather Radio transmitter, there are various ways to report a problem that depend on where you live. If you live in The United States, you can call 1-888-697-7263. You can email NOAA at nwroutage@noaa.gov, or on the web at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr. If you live in Canada, you can call 1-877-789-7733. You can email the National Weatheradio Canada Team at ec.wxradio.ec@canada.ca. Also, you can report it on the NOAA Weather Radio Weatheradio Canada Facebook Group. https://m.facebook.com/groups/weatheradio/
You can also email me directly at wxrnewsletter@gmail.com and it will be passed on for you. Please cc me at this email address if you choose to fire off an email to either netowrk. You can also report problems on X (formerly known as Twitter) @WxrNewsletter and by all means, follow me at this account too. Note from the author: I will mainly include items with a definitive time on their start to finish and ones with unknown starts or endings, I will of course include as well, but with a mention of them being unknown.
Transmitter XLM300 Montréal is off the air, as of 5:30 PM EST, Tuesday, February 13. It came back on Wednesday, February 14 around 10:40 AM EST. It was Jacques Pannetier who had reported this on Facebook and the author had fired off the email, reporting the issue to Weatheradio Canada.
It has been 10 years since the following infomation was published in the original newsletter as a PDF and in March 2017, as a blog post, of Issue 11. There had been changes to some watches, warnings and alerts in Canada and for the most part, these would be and still are additional labels added, but still no extra content. I had found out first from Peter Staples and he had told me quite a lot both on the phone and by email, with some of it making it into the newsletter. Anyway, some of the new alerts were SAME encoded at first, as some fog advisories were toned and to tell the truth, I wish they all were, but more on that further down.
Effective April 8th, 2014, Environment Canada changed its list of alert types, to more accurately describe the severity of different weather hazards. They had included some name changes, type changes and two new Advisory bulletins, as described below.
Changes
New, as of April 2014 , Prior to April 2014, and After April 2014
Frost Warning, Frost Advisory Various Heat Warnings/Advisories,
Heat WarningHere are the alert criteria for the new advisories:
Alert
Basic Criteria
Blowing Snow Advisory
Low visibilities in blowing snow expected for a significant duration – National except Nunavik threshold
Fog Advisory
Low visibilities in fog expected for a significant duration – National except Nunavik and Newfoundland
thresholds
Freezing Drizzle Advisory
Freezing Drizzle is expected for a significant duration. National except Nunavik threshold
Frost Advisory
Frost is expected. National except Nunavik threshold
Weather Advisory
An alert that can be used for any situation for which there is no other alert that effectively describes the conditions expected
Introduction of the Heat and Extreme Cold Warnings
Heat and Extreme Cold Warnings have also been introduced in conjunction with Health Canada. The Heat Warning replaces a series of regional heat, Humidex or heat and humidity alerts while the Extreme Cold Warning replaces the Wind Chill Warning. In addition, air temperatures have been included in the criteria for the Extreme Cold Warning, so that a temperature of -40 with light winds might now be enough to trigger an Extreme Cold Warning, when previously the lack of winds would not allow issuance of a Wind Chill Warning.
On April 21st 2014 EccC sent a practice/demo that was a SAME toned alert for a fog advisory. http://youtu.be/EL1DqRFyptk
Because of the changes to weather alerts, I believe that may have played into the rise of weather alert apps for iOS and android. I could be wrong, but before June 2015, I had no apps on my iPhone which provided pushed weather alerts and I had given links to a couple of good ones, which worked well for CANWARN net controllers who have iPhones as the blackberries are no longer used, as they were given to such persons by Environment Canada back in the day. I didn’t have one because I wasn’t an OG net controller and blackberries aren’t accessible to the blind so, I have my iPhone. I have enough weather apps to work for me if I was asked to do net control for a CANWARN group and now that I mention it, I haven’t done that since about 2012 when I first got my iPhone.
Anyway, some people had complained about some of the new alerts not being SAME toned, like the heat warning and I agree with that one, as it also applies to extreme cold. They are both warnings and there should be a loud alert going over the air for it. After all, heat could potentially kill some people or cause exhaustion for some as well as certain death without air-conditioning. Extreme cold could also have the same outcome for some, who could be involved in an unfortunate situation, such as being on the side of the road with a stalled vehicle in sub freezing temperatures, topped off with blowing snow and very strong winds like a blizzard. This could include struggling rock bands who can only get around from gig to gig by either a bus, or a van. I am even going to include the Buddy Holly plane crash situation, which apparently involved him, Ritchie Valens and the big bopper all on a school bus going from gig to gig on that faithful tour. Then, the plane that was hired and subsequent plane crash, in cold wintry weather snuffing out the careers and lives of three famous musicians, all younger than 30 years old. Right now, yours, mine and our friend’s phone and a weather app seems to be the only ways people can learn that their local area is being affected by those two particular severe weather bulletins, besides more urgent watch and warning alerts such as severe thunderstorms, tornados and winter storms, to name a few. Remember that phrase “severe weather bulletin ” on Weatheradio Canada? I actually miss it and I wish that it could be brought back to the network, but it will all hinge on whether it is reinstated into public alerts on the EccC website in general. So far, I can’t see it happening even though I wish it would return, for nostalgia reasons. Anyway, we have the alerts as they are and a part of me wishes that warnings would be brought back for blowing snow, frost, freezing drizzle and windchill warning, all making the return in more extreme cases and most importantly, SAME toned. Not everyone who listens to Weatheradio Canada may have a smart phone, so why leave them behind? Tone everything because no matter what the alert may be, everyone in the listening area needs to know, because we all have to go outside, in order to go shopping, unless you are a hermit and do all your shopping online. Remember how things were in the midst of COVID-19 and the first months of the pandemic? I do, but also remember the days before then and the days before April 8, 2014 when everyone knew that an alert was being issued because we heard the alarm sound on our WX radios and now, you need an iPhone, or an android device in order to be up on the latest life-threatening severe weather bulletin which could affect you, me and everyone else in and around us. Like I said, the solution could be to bring back the warnings for which we have advisories in extreme cases and especially, during a far extreme cold like parts of the Prairie provinces had in January of this year. It would get the message out to everyone to be more careful and a wind chill warning would be more effective, especially if the wind chill is quite significant compared to the temperature outside. After all, the phrase “frostbite within minutes” was in the body of the public forecast during those days of extreme cold, because of the cold and high wind chill values. Extreme cold sounds to general and doesn’t focus in on the main weather villain.
Well, that’s it and I hope that in August we get plenty of heat and we are notified about it on our radios, as well as smart phones. However, I can’t see a snowballs chance in hell of that happening because things aren’t going to change, unless catastrophe happens Involving death. I sincerely hope not, but I think that is what some people are waiting for to happen before right things are done. After all, if it bleeds it leads as a top new story and only then, people who have the power actually do something.