Serving for more than thirty years, the WX5FWD SKYWARN™ team are volunteer radio operator liaisons for the Fort Worth National Weather Service (NWS) North Texas SKYWARN™ Spotters. During SKYWARN events, you are reporting information to our team and the NWS warning forecasters. Three goals of a storm spotter are to safely observe, identify and report conditions.

Weather spotters provide what's called "ground truth" to the National Weather Service and emergency weather management. Spotters are needed because, while radar is very good at helping the National Weather Service see what's going on in the upper atmosphere, it's unable to detect what's actually happening on the ground because of the curvature of the Earth. Knowing the "ground truth" about a weather event from the location can be the deciding factor to issue a warning.

Know your Severe Weather Risk

Submitted by wd5m on Mon, 2014-03-03 11:39

Ready.gov Severe weather impacts every part of the country. One of the best ways to prepare is to know the hazards for your area. www.Ready.gov/today is a great place to start – just click on your state to learn more!

Join America’s PrepareAthon and take action to prepare for the severe weather hazards in your area. More at www.Ready.gov/prepare

Severe weather impacts every part of the country. How does it affect your family? Be a Force of Nature

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National Severe Weather Preparedness Week- March 2-8 th , 2014

Submitted by wd5m on Sun, 2014-03-02 09:00

BeAForce It’s National Severe Weather Preparedness Week! Join us in sharing severe weather safety tips all week long with your friends. Check out how at www.Ready.gov/severe-weather. And if you’re on Twitter, follow the conversation & safety tips all week long at #BeAForce and @NWSFortWorth and @WX5FWD.

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2014 Spotter Training Schedule

Submitted by wd5m on Sat, 2014-01-04 20:08
The North Texas SKYWARN™ Spotter Training Schedule for 2014 has been published and is in progress. Please add a local session to your calendar now. Be sure to check the schedule often for updates and additions.

Visitor Day Postponed for SKYWARN Recognition Event at Fort Worth NWS

Submitted by wd5m on Fri, 2013-12-06 09:39

Due to the inclement winter storm, the Fort Worth NWS office is postponing plans for visitors on SKYWARN Recognition Day, Saturday, December 7th.  We hope to reschedule a day for SKYWARN visitors another week. We will send another announcement, and post on wx5fwd.org and twitter.com/wx5fwd, when a new date is confirmed.

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Updated Radio Desk

Submitted by wd5m on Sun, 2013-11-10 21:30
Radio Desk

Announcing the new SKYWARN radio desk for the Fort Worth National Weather Service office. Equipment, time and sweat donated by the WX5FWD SKYWARN volunteer team. Most radios were moved under the raised floor, with control heads mounted on the desk wall. The old radio shelf has been removed, providing additional desk space. Three desktop computers with dual monitors have been installed with Windows 7, replacing two old Windows XP computers, to monitor nwschat, radar, video feeds and alerts. In case this is your first view of the desk, the NWS warning forecasters sit on the other side of the desk wall facing the radio operators.

Radio and Antenna in order from left to right:

  1. new 20 ft dual band antenna on top of building - connected to a new Icom IC-2820H D-Star radio provided by the Emergency Management Office, City of Ft. Worth.
  2. 30 foot (low) dual band antenna connected to another 732.
  3. 30 foot (high) dual band antenna connected to a Kenwood TM V-71.
  4. 50 foot dual band antenna connected to a Kenwood TM D-710. Actually a Tri-band antenna but 220 not in use.
  5. 70 foot VHF antenna connected to a Kenwood TM V-71.
  6. 100 foot VHF antenna connected to a Kenwood TM V-71.
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