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Date: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 09:59:04 -0500
From: Robert P Dale <rdale{at}NORDEN1.COM>
Subject: Last 88D online...
Last of new-generation weather radar stations comes on-line
NORTH WEBSTER, Ind. (AP) -- A $6 million Doppler radar station that will
keep watch for severe weather over three states has been declared fully
operational by the National Weather Service.
The new station 35 miles northwest of Fort Wayne is the last of 120
Doppler
radar units installed as part of a $4.4 billion project to improve the
weather service's ability to track severe weather.
The first station was installed in Melbourne, Fla., in 1991.
The North Webster station was declared operational Tuesday to begin
searching the skies over a 37-county area in Indiana and adjacent parts
of
Michigan and Ohio for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and snowstorms. It
replaces weather service offices in Fort Wayne and South Bend.
``We've put the radar through its paces, become familiar with our
coverage
area, established contacts with county emergency management agencies,
and
now we're ready to become a complete forecast office just in time for
severe
weather season,'' said Michael Sabones, meteorologist in charge of the
North
Webster station.
The next-generation radar, or NEXRAD, system was installed in October.
North
Webster was chosen in 1996 after intense lobbying by Sen. Dan Coats,
R-Ind.,
and a stateline tug-of-war with Ohio lawmakers.
The new radar measures wind speed, direction and shift with more
powerful,
narrower beams of electromagnetic radiation than the 1950s-era
technology it
replaces. It can see inside a thunderstorm for subtle changes that
precede
the formation of severe weather, such as tornadoes. It also could give
warning of lake-effect snowstorms that frequently blanket northeastern
Indiana.
But Doppler systems in Indianapolis, Paducah, Ky., and Romeoville, Ill.,
also have been blamed for missing snowstorms and even tornadoes, with
deadly
consequences.
The North Webster Doppler radar has passed every test and represents a
big
improvement over past systems, even if it isn't perfect, Sabones said.
``Nothing in the weather business is foolproof,'' he said. ``The
atmosphere's a big place.''
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Jesse Ferrell - Meteorologist - j{at}weatherwatchers.org
Central Atlantic Storm Investigators - www.weatherwatchers.org
"A tornado? Why wasn't it dissipated by the weather
modification net?" --Jean-Luc Picard || ICQ No. 136862 ||