CONTACT: Marilu Trainor FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Barry Reichenbaugh July 9, 1996
The National Weather Service will reach a major milestone in its weather service modernization program with installation in mid-July of radars in California and Utah, completing the planned nationwide network of Doppler weather radars. The modernization program began in 1988.
The completed network of 161 radars, approved by Congress in 1987, forms a blanket of protection and provides critical weather information for the nation. The National Weather Service will operate 120 weather radars in the network; the Department of Defense will operate 29 similar weather radars, and the Federal Aviation Administration 12 radars. Data from all the radars are available to the other partnering agencies.
"Completing the initial radar network is important to everyone in the United States," said Elbert W. Friday Jr., director of the National Weather Service. "The radars help us fulfill our mission of protecting lives and property through improved forecasts and warnings, and better serve the general population and America's military and transportation inter- ests.
"The Doppler capability allows forecasters to actually see inside storms and detect their structure,þ Friday said. þThe radars provide excellent data on the movement and severity of storms, and our forecasters use the technologies to provide better warnings and forecasts. We can now provide earlier, more reliable, and geographically detailed warnings of severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, high winds, winter storms and flash floods."
The NWS will finish initial construction of the radar in Californiaþs Santa Ana Mountains on July 10. The site is near Corona, about 40 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Located in the Cleveland National Forest, the radar will provide coverage for Orange and portions of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, including the Inland Empire.
On July 17, initial construction at the Utah site will be completed. The radar is located on Blowhard Mountain in the Dixie National Forest near Cedar City, which is about 240 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. This radar will provide information for southern Utah, southeastern Nevada and northern Arizona. The Utah site will be the highest in the nation at 10,600 feet above sea level.
Based on an extensive study completed in 1995, the Department of Commerce recommended to Congress in October that three additional radars be added to the network. Funding, however, is still pending. These radars will cover areas in northern Indiana/northwest Ohio, northern Alabama/southeastern Tennessee, and western Arkansas/eastern Oklahoma.
Congress funded the tri-agency network of modernized weather radars in 1987 at a cost of about $1.25 billion. The cost includes land acquisition, installation, operations, and computer and communications equipment. The deployment of the radars began in 1988 with test sites in Norman, Okla.; Sterling, Va.; and Melbourne, Fla. Full-scale deployment of the radars began in 1992.
Besides the weather radars, the nation's modernized weather systems include enhanced satellite imaging, information processing and communications systems, super speed computers, and automated remote sensors.
Each radar provides a continuous weather watch over an area. Officials involved in local emergency management operations, aviation, forestry, public safety, highway patrol, news media, transportation, and other functions rely on the information disseminated by the National Weather Service, Friday said.
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