Storm warning flags a welcome sight for island mariners
BY PETER A. SUTTERS JR. INDEPENDENT WRITER
Unless you spend time on the harbor you may not have noticed that the United States Coast Guard at Station

Brant Point resurrected a 100-yearold tradition last summer:

The flying of storm flags.

Discontinued in 1989 because technology had rendered the flags obsolete, the Coast Guard decided last June to fly the flags at certain stations around the country.

Station Brant Point was not on the list, but station Chief T.J. Malvesti asked and was granted permission to fly the flags on Nantucket.

"In the age of (Global Positioning Systems) and weather radios, the intent is to have it be visible as a community service," said Malvesti from his Brant Point office. "The guys enjoy doing it because they get a lot of feedback from the community. A lot of the scallopers have said they enjoy seeing the flags up so they know what to expect. This time of year it seems we're putting them up every other day."

The small craft advisory flag is hoisted when winds are between 25 and 33 knots, prompting a single red triangle-shaped flag to be flown.

The other warnings are a gale warning, signified by two red triangle flags, for winds between 35 and 47 knots. A single squared flag - red with a black square in the middle - is for a storm warning with winds between 48 and 63 knots. A hurricane warning, which is two of the square flags, is posted for winds 64 knots and up.

Malvesti and his crew monitor the conditions by checking in with the national Weather Service and listening to mariners' radio broadcasts.

"When we get a report of bad weather, we mark it on the board and then send someone out to hoist the flag," said Malvesti.

For now, the flags are being hoisted onto a flag pole with the Stars and Stripes at the top, followed by the United States Coast Guard official colors, a black, "We will never forget" prisoner of war flag and the storm flags on the bottom.

For the trained eye, the storm flag stands out, but for many, it could be lost in the fluttering of the other fabrics.

"We are going to be moving it to the top of the berthing building, once the communications center is moved," said Malvesti. "It will make it a lot easier for the crew to change it and it will be on its own pole, so hopefully it will be more visible."

The berthing building is near where the current flagpole is, but will offer mariners an uninhibited view of any flag warnings the Coast Guard puts up in the event of an approaching storm.

While Station Brant Point chose to fly the flags as a community service, some stations, such as in Chatham, have tricky harbor entrances with shifting sandbars that often relocate in a storm and will be taking the old fashioned method of broadcasting information one step further. Storm lights.

"We have no plans to do that any time soon," said Malvesti.

So for now, the bells and whistles of modern weather technology may reign supreme on the Internet and across the airwaves, but for the old time fisherman heading out early in the morning hoping for a dredge full of scallops, a simple look across the harbor may be the best bet for the most up-to-date information on approaching

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