A friend of mine was recently scouting some duck hunting area during the blue bird time of day recently. Suddenly the weather alert function on his Garmin Rino 530HCx sounded off and locked up his radio. He needed to turn his unit off to escape the weather alert.
If you are out scouting for game this can spook them into the next county. I cannot remember if the Weather Alert function is a default on or off. Normally during hunting season we check the weather at least twice a day, once early in the morning and when we are headed in at the end of the day. On occasions I will check the weather during the day. If it looks like a storm is suddenly moving in or cumulus clouds start building up.
Without a doubt if I lived in Tornado Alley I would have the weather alert function activated if there was a risk. There is the memory that an Uncle was killed by a tornado in Alabama back in the last century.
I spent a lot of time this last summer monitoring weather radar in Northern California and I noted a number of server weather warnings associated with this years thunder storms and the threat of tornado's or flash flood. Another weather element I pay a lot of attention to is the wind velocity. There is an over abundance of rotting Bark Beetle killed timber in Northern California. Red and White Fir zones present a special risk for tree failure, but the pines will get you.
I spend sometime hunting burns, There is always a risk of a fire kill tree falling. The tree might fall the same year it was killed by the fire or ten years later. The risk is always there.
I consider predicted winds or gust in excess of twenty miles per hour a threat. I do not think game likes high winds either and find a location to hold up. A few years ago in October I pitched my tent just above the 7000-foot elevation. I was expecting some weather so I pitched a 16 x 20 foot tarp a couple feet above the tent to protect it from wind and snow.
I also created a sheltered cooking area. Before taking these steps I did a walk around checking for hazard trees, including snags and dead tops. I made note of a couple of large, white snags about 500 feet from the edge of camp. A check of NOAA weather radio advised me that temperatures were going to hit the teens, winds 40+ MPH, and light snow.
It was a double sleeping bag night. The cold was not bad, but the wind in the trees caused me some concern. The wind generated a lot of noise in the timber, but the tent, and the fly over it held together. About 3 a.m. one of those big white snags came crashing to the ground but was far enough away not to be a threat, just an attention getter.
About that time I got up to let the dog out of the tent. He normally does not like to stay in the tent, but that night was an exception. He stayed tightly curled up in his corner and would not budge.
Another year I was head for the same area. A hunting partner was going to show up the next day and we preplanned a high elevation campsite. In route I checked the NOAA weather radio and it predicted two feet of snow at the elevation we planned on camping. The current weather was beautiful but I could see distant dark clouds. I decided to set camp up at 5000 foot elevation and not 7000-foot based on the forecast. It was a good decision.
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mfr/nwr/index.phphttp://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/My CB, Midland 400 series FRS/GMRS radio, and my Garmin Rino 530HCx received NOAA weather radio. While they all have the ability to receive weather alerts only the Rino 530HCx is activated by the weather alert signal.
From the Garmin 530HCx manual:
“Use Weather Alert
When the radio is on, Enable Weather Alert is at the bottom of the option menu. Press ENTER when Enable Weather Alert is selected to turn it on. You can turn the Weather Radio off and continue radio operations. When a Weather Alert tone is detected, the Rino automatically turns on the Weather Radio and broadcasts the Weather Alert if you are not actively transmitting or receiving on the radio. The volume changes to ¾ the maximum when a Weather Alert is broadcast. Select Disable Weather Alert to turn off this feature.
To turn the weather radio off, press Enter When Use FRS/GMRS Radio is selected. This switches back over to the FRS/GMRS radio operation. Weather Alert is disabled whenever the FRS?GMRS and Weather Radio is off.”
The drop in elevation I mentioned earlier paid off and I had a good hunt not complicated by the storm. But a few days later I hit town and went into a restaurant to eat. While waiting for my food I read about a number of parties getting caught in the storm resulting in death and injury.
P.S.
This winter if a weather alert shows on TV I plan on turning on the Garmin to see how it works to increase my knowledge base.
