Dennis McCarthy, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service Norman Forecast Office, was presented a Certificate of Merit by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) recently to recognize his ongoing work with amateur radio operations in Oklahoma and his contribution to saving lives and property during the tornado outbreak May 3.

"The intention of the ARRL is to recognize people who contribute to our efforts in public service," said Jim Haynie, West Gulf Division director and ARRL board member. "Our relationship with the National Weather Service has been good, and Dennis has been a part of that." McCarthy, who is a licensed amateur radio operator and currently serves as president of the South Canadian Amateur Radio Society in Norman, has worked with amateurs and ham communications for more than 15 years. Ham radio is a common communication tool for emergency managers who are able to quickly receive weather information and relay reports of potentially dangerous storms from storm spotters.

For weather forecasters, these spotter reports are an important part of the severe weather warning process because they provide visual descriptions of storms, confirming what forecasters are seeing on their Doppler radar.

McCarthy was recognized by the ARRL for his work to establish storm spotter amateur radio operations in portions of Oklahoma and North Texas. Under his leadership, the Norman forecast office developed ham radio links to support Skywarn spotter operations in the Wichita Falls, Texas, area in 1992. Since then, the office's ham radio network has been expanded to most of south central, central and northern Oklahoma.

On May 3, like during many severe weather events occurring in his office's service area, McCarthy was a volunteer on the ham radio providing radar updates of the storm's activity to storm spotter groups and receiving back from them reports of what they were observing.

The award presentation was made during Ham Holiday, an annual event for amateur radio enthusiasts held in Oklahoma City.