STORM TRACK: July 31, 1984 (Volume 7 Issue 5)

DALLAS -- Dave Martin spends tornado season watching for tornadoes and issuing warnings. Charles Byars oversees emergency preparations in the northern half of Texas for the amateur Radio Emergency Service. "Our people are redoubling their efforts this year," he says. Byars operates the 140-county northern Texas section of ARES, a nationwide organization of 160,000 amateur radio operators -- 1,600 of whom are in Texas. During tornado warnings, Byars and other volunteers of ARES operate a communications network called "Skywarn," that works closely with the weather service.

ARES provides a crucial communications network, during times when normal communications channels are lost. In 1979, it was ARES skywarn spotters who first saw a massive tornado forming on the western edge of Wichita Falls. Word was relayed to the National Weather Service, which confirmed the storm on radar, and soon ARES was broadcasting word of the twister. Forty-five people died, 500 were injured and $250 million in property was damaged or destroyed but, the early warning still was credited with minimizing the devastation.

It was the first time the ARES system had been tested. Since then, the group has signed a formal cooperative agreement with the National Weather Service to coordinate Skywarn spotters with meteorologists, whose radar is often not specific enough to detect newly formed tornadoes.

In 1982, a Bonham police officer spotted a twister moving toward Paris. The ARES network and the weather service were able to track the twister well before it touched down. "We gave the people of Paris about 40 minutes lead time," Martin reports. "But that's pretty unusual. In Wichita Falls, they had maybe 20 minutes warning. The ones that are hard to warn for are the small, weak tornadoes. Usually, a few minutes warning is the best we can do."

After the Wichita Falls and Paris tornadoes hit, ARES provided the "only link with the outside world." Byars: "Our purpose is to provide emergency communications in time of disaster of any type. ... Any time there is a disaster, normal communications are usually interrupted. ARES units move in to fill the gap."

The amateur radio operators, who provide their own equipment, work closely with law enforcement, agencies, the Red Cross, county and civil defense officials and public utilities. ARES even relayed messages to relatives outside tornado areas. Byers: "Radio operators, who take part in these activities, are the most highly trained weather spotters in our community."