The National Weather Service (NWS) plans to conduct a statewide tornado drill in Indiana Tuesday, March 14, at 10:15 a.m. ET.
Beginning at about 10 a.m. that day, the Allen County Skywarn® net plans to implement standby mode, during which a net control station will explain what will happen when the statewide drill begins.
When NWS begins the drill by activating a NOAA Weather Radio alert, the net plans to switch to directed net mode, as it would during a real tornado warning. At that time, the net control station will accept simulated severe weather reports, using time-event-location (TEL) format.
To make a simulated report a station should first transmit their call sign phonetically, followed by the type of report. For example, “Whiskey Nine Alpha Bravo Charlie, funnel cloud.”
When acknowledged by the net control station, the reporting station should then give a report in time-event-location (TEL) format, as suggested by the National Weather Service Northern Indiana office. For example, “Test message. At 10:15 a.m., A simulated funnel cloud was approximately one mile north of the intersection of Dupont Road and Lima Road in northeastern Fort Wayne. W9ABC.”
As usual, the net will occur on 146.88 MHz. If for any reason that repeater is unavailable, the net will operate on 146.94 MHz.