It was 3 a.m. and the tide was two hours late.
Forecasts said a Category 5 hurricane could make its way along Maryland?s coast and Michele Kehl started to worry.
“I remember thinking, ?I should try to get a cell signal,? ” the Millers Island resident said. “We had plan A and B, but we didn?t have plan C.”
When Hurricane Isabel spared her home in September 2003, Kehl found herself taking in injured residents who arrived bleeding on boats. The crash course in emergency response, she said, inspired her to learn more about the early signs of severe weather.
She?s one of several hundred county residents who volunteer for the National Weather Service?s network of amateur weather spotters on the lookout for warning signs of severe weather.
Known as SKYWARN, the program boasts about 270,000 volunteers nationally, according to David Manning, warning coordination meteorologist for National Weather Service.
Baltimore County?s emergency management office, which has offered SKYWARN courses for about 15 years,is looking to add eyes on the skies, said Lt. Mark Demski. The one-day class provides everything volunteers need to call in conditions to the National Weather Service and help them craft their severe weather alerts.
The course ranges from the difference between a storm warning and watch to various cloud formations and the size classes for hail. Many volunteers are HAM radio operators and weather fanatics, program organizers said.
“The people that come to these things can be geeky in some ways, but that?s OK,” Demski said. “Everyone has their niche.”
For Kehl, the hurricane recovery lead to a part-time job as program coordinator for the county?s Citizen Corps, which led her to SKYWARN.
Her husband teases her for her phone calls and government-approved radio, but she doesn?t mind.
“During the hurricane, we really saw how it was imperative for neighborhoods to take care of each other,” she said. “It?s a really great safety tool, much less a way for them to get their data.”
For more information, visit www.erh.noaa.gov/er/lwx/skywarn/skywarn.htm.
