Although it is still February and temperatures are below normal the last couple of days, the Steinbach Storm Ready team held their 2102 kick-off meeting on February 9th.  Our Team consists of about 20 dedicated citizens, working in teams of four and covering the months of May through September as Storm Spotters. Our Storm Ready Team members are residents of, or live in a 10-kilometre radius of Steinbach and volunteer their time to watch the skies during summer months to help keep the citizens of Steinbach aware of possible severe weather that could affect the area.
We are currently looking for up to six volunteers to act as weather spotters in times of severe weather.

When needed, the Storm Spotters will be notified by weather radio, text, telephone, or cell phone and asked to watch the sky for signs of a tornado developing. They will then contact the local radio station, Emergency Operations Team, and Environment Canada with this information.

Spotters are provided with training as well as guidelines on how to report a sighting and action checklists.

We invite anyone interested to join our Storm Ready Team in making Steinbach a safer place to live and raise a family.

Questions and comments can be directed to the Emergency Planning Coordinator, Denis Vassart, at 392-5996 or by e-mail at dvassart@steinbach.ca.

There is an interesting article on Stienbach online that talks about the 2011 weather. Here is a link to the story.

www.steinbachonline.com/local-news/record-breaking-year-for-weather

It is a good idea to keep your gas tank at least half full during the winter and to have extra windshield washer fluid and antifreeze on hand. 

You may want to prepare two small emergency kits – one to put in the trunk of your vehicle and the other in the cab of the vehicle. 

The trunk kit should include:

-     Shovel, sand, salt, kitty litter or other traction aids;

-     Tow chain and booster cables;

-     Fire extinguisher, warning light or flares; and

-     Extra clothing, including mittens, hats and boots.

The kit in the cab of the vehicle should include:

- Flashlight;

- Blanket;

- First-aid kit

- Matches, candles (in a deep can to warm hands or heat a drink) and emergency food pack.

 If you do not already have a cellular telephone and if the cellular network works in your area, you may want to consider having one with you in your car for emergencies.  You could also look into purchasing a pay-as-you-go cell phone to use during longer road trips.

Here is a link to more winter storm safety tips: http://www.steinbach.ca/city_services/protective_services/safety_tips/#winter_storms .

The Steinbach Weather Radio transmitter is now back on the air, and they are forecasting more snow for this afternoon and evening.

The Environment Canada Weather Radio transmitter for the Steinbach area failed on Tuesday evening. Right now if you are on the Steinbach frequency (channel 4) all you will get is static. Environment Canada technicians are working on the problem but are unsure when the broadcast will be restored. We will continue to monitor the radio frequency and let you know when it is back on the air.

Here is an excerpt from Environment Canada regarding Weather Radio warning system: “Weatheradio is a network of radio transmitters stretching from the Gulf of Mexico into Canada’s Arctic and from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island.  These transmitters provide continuous broadcasts of weather information and instant updates when weather threatens. 

Weatheradio Canada is operated by Environment Canada’s Meteorological Service and broadcasts weather and environmental information 24 hours a day in both official languages on 7 dedicated frequencies within the VHFpublic service band.  This permits the transmission of a tone and Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) codes ahead of a warning message that will activate the Weatheradio receiver and alert you to an incoming important message. 

Over 90 percent of Canadians can access a Weatheradio signal, and recent technological advances make it possible for listeners to program Weatheradio receivers to deliver only certain types of warnings for their specific locations.”

Our area has a transmitter located on the Goldenwest Radio tower in Steinbach and the Midland brand of weather radios are available locally at Birch Auto, located at 37 Loewen Boulevard, in Steinbach. Other brands of weather radios are also available at local stores here in town such as The Source.

Here is a link to more information on the weatheradio system: www.ec.gc.ca/weatheradio/ 

As it is the time of year when we can get freezing rain & ice, I thought I would post this safety tip:

 ”Ice from freezing rain accumulates on branches, power lines and buildings. If you must go outside during such time, pay attention to branches, wires or sheets of ice that could break, and fall on you. Do not touch power lines: a hanging power line could be live and you would run the risk of electrocution. Remember also that ice, branches or power lines can continue to break and fall for several hours after the precipitation ends, so be vigilant. Ice on sidewalks and roadways can be extremely dangerous so always proceed with caution and only go out if absolutely necessary until conditions improve.”

The weather the past week hardly seems like fall, but it is forecast to cool off soon.  This has been probably the warmest ever start to October with temperatures more like those in June or August.

With fall and winter weather approaching, we will start putting winter weather preparedness tips out over the next postings.

With the summer severe weather season ending, it appears we had a quieter season for severe weather this year than in 2010. Our watchers logged  about 88 hours watching the RADAR this year and 115 hours out watching the skies when severe weather threatened. This compares to about 100 hours tracking storms on RADAR and more than 150 hours we recorded as being out watching the skies last year.

 Our group will begin preparing for next summer in the beginning of 2012 and we are always looking for people who are interested in helping us out.

With the change in the weather this week, we are more concerned with the potential for frost than severe thunderstorms in the next couple of days.

As September is almost half over and our summer storm watch winds down, we will soon start talking about being prepared for winter conditions both for driving and personal safety.

The next report will be in October and I hope to have the stats compiled on what the Storm Watchers did this season and a comparison to last year.