OUR STORY
MLBaron is a Certified SkyWarn Weather Spotter (ID 11-070) and maintains the West Island Weather Station KA1WBH. He comes from a decorated military family . An accomplished artist, Baron practices in varied media from the old American Folk Art of Scrimshaw, to award winning videos and photography. H
e is also a recognized scrimshaw & antique ivory appraiser specializing in counterfeit detection. Living on West Island, Fairhaven,MA offers an abundance of subject matter. With every changing season along the shore or inside the West Island State Reservation, an opportunity for a special photo is never hard to come by. This small island is located near the Cape Cod Canal and Martha’s Vineyard, MA. West Island is small enough to fit inside New York’s Central Park.
Routine servicing of gear at the West Island Weather Station tower in Fairhaven,MA occurs year round, weather permitting. MLBaron is geared and belted up on tower. ML is also an experienced drone pilot.
ADVENTURE IS FOR EVERYONE
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Inspection of tower structure, wiring and instruments keeps the SkyWarn rig fine tuned. Since 1992 the WIWS tower has been through historic and significant storms including the March 1993 “Super-Storm” (one of the most powerful winter storms along the Eastern seaboard since records were kept) along with numerous blizzards, thunderstorms, hailstorms and a few powerful tropical storms. The tower nicknamed “Dorothy” was erected by Peter Jarosik-KA1WBE. The West Island Weather Station is one of the highest rated American PWS Weather Stations in the world.
Spotter experience, Deadly heat wave August 1975, The Blizzard of 1978, Hurricane Gloria 1985, Hurricane Bob 1991 Associated Press award to WNBH radio for outstanding coverage in which I was a live correspondent, my weather communications tower destroyed. The Crow Island 350 ft. radio tower also destroyed, total damage 1.6 billion dollars regionally. The Perfect Storm October 1991,the Gloucester -based Andrea Gail lost at sea with all hands. The “Super-Storm” of March 1993-(one of the most powerful coastal storms on record) West Island Weather Station tower top 17 feet of antenna and 2 weather stations were destroyed. The Blizzard of 1996, Blizzard of 1997. Rare Tornado warning event 2000, the West Island Weather Station hit by lightning and hail, multiple assets and equipment destroyed. The oil-spill of 2003 , The Blizzard of 2009
. Tropical Storm IreneAug 28, 2011, wounded by electrocution during storm event. Hurricane Sandy 2012, The Blizzard of 2013 and beyond.
Above: ML multi-prize winner “Thunderstruck” weather trivia contest sponsored by The Weather Channel. Photo taken August 9, 1991. 10 days later Hurricane Bob hit SouthCoast MA.
Citations: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts House of Representatives, the Town of Fairhaven (3), Coalition of Vietnam Vets. Hands Across the River, Fairhaven Rotary Club, the National Academy of Cable Excellence (ACE) nomination. The Massachusetts Cable TV Commission, First Place award for documentary 1985 Hurricane Gloria. Massachusetts Cable TV Commission First Place Award for a documentary on the 1938 Hurricane. The Massachusetts Cable TV Commission nomination for a documentary on the abandoned Atlas Tack factory 1987. National Weather Service Citation 1997. Judge for The Academy of Cable Excellence Awards, Gabriel Awards-Catholic Diocese, Massachusetts Cable TV Commission, Award for dedicated civilian service from The Massachusetts Army National Guard. Certificate of Merit from The American Cancer Society, Person of the Year award 
from MADD. Person of the Month from the New Bedford Standard-Times. Past Program Director for Fairhaven and Acushnet Public Access TV for 14 years. Publicity Director for Save West Island, Inc., Chairman of the Fairhaven Arts Cultural Council for 6 years. Amateur radio operator, Callsign: KA1WBH, Technician Plus, member of The American Radio Relay League, Consultant to The Insurance Information Institute – Boston MA Office, Certificate of Appreciation National Weather Service.
(left: ML with Dr Bob Sheets-National Hurricane Center and Bob Thompson, Director of National Weather Service-Northeast)
Otis AFB with a P3 Orion Hurricane Hunter Plane
With Boston Meteorologist Harvey Leonard
On the Vineyard with Walter Cronkite
With Mass Governor Michael Dukakis,State Rep John Bradford 1989
With Massachusetts Governor Paul Cellucci 1992
MLBaron and one of the SkyWarn GMC Mountain Bikes
WIWS ADDS ‘RAD’ ELECTRIC BIKES TO THE FLEET
GAME CHANGER – A new RAD along side one of our GMC mountain bikes (right) at The West Island Weather Station – Buzzards Bay – Fairhaven MA. West Island is located just 8 miles away from Martha’s Vineyard, (many Rads on MV too) but is much smaller at only 735 acres. Bikes are the way to get around here, especially to capture weather photos and video for westislandweather.com.
The RAD Rover augments our other bikes – without motors – that have been in service for over 10 year…s. Almost half of the island is natural forestry and is a pristine sanctuary for sea birds and wildlife. Trails wind through this 350 acre site with various surface texture, including small gravel dirt roads to narrow paths with an occasional shallow stream all terminating to the ocean.
The Rad Rover has exceeded all the challenges we threw against it. I made some minor modifications to the cockpit/handlebar gear. Tube liner, and slime were immediately applied with a change over to the MAXXIS tires. A Co2 pump cartridge and small pump are stored in the bags internally. No need to expose this gear which should be hardly used and not work if the time arises.
A standard first aid kit strapped at the bars also make for a handy pouch for small items like a cell-phone ear piece. A separate Anker USB battery pack is used for lighting, charging and accessories. That is stored in the forward bag, which makes it easily reachable. No devices are attached to the bike battery except the bike. *ML’s Note: Batteries – drone, tablet etc. are never charged overnight, unsupervised, as a fire safety precaution. Our bikes are nicknamed after the Wizard of Oz dog – TOTO. There’s Toto – Toto II – and now Toto III.
Rad Power Bikes is a success story from customer service to the quality product it stands behind. Visit The West Island State Reservation – Commonwealth of Massachusetts page here – you might bump into me! https://www.westislandweather.com/westislandreservation.htm
TEAM LEADERS
Two of our dedicated members of the West Island Weather Station team.
MLBaron Jr.
