NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DEDICATES TRI-STATE RADAR

A small contingent of federal, state and local officials gathered today at a rural Gibson County, Ind., site to formally dedicate the Tri-State Doppler weather radar to serve residents of southwest Indiana, southeast Illinois and northwest Kentucky. Officials from NOAA National Weather Service (NOAA Weather Service) declared the radar operational less than six months after ground was broken. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an agency of the Commerce Department.

Participants at the 10:30 a.m. CST dedication included: U.S. Congressman John N. Hostettler (R-Ind.), from Indiana’s 8th Congressional district; Larry Ordner, aide to Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.); Timothy R.E. Keeney, deputy assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere; Dennis McCarthy, NOAA Weather Service Central Region director; Steve Rudolph of the Evansville Chamber of Commerce and Beverly Poole, meteorologist in charge at the NOA Weather Service Paducah, Ky., weather forecast office.

“This tall tower, standing in an open field, represents the 21st-Century, life-saving technology that will connect us with the rest of the NOAA Weather Service network,” Hostettler said. “Our homes, our schools, our places of work and worship will be safer as a result.”

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) said: “The new Doppler radar will provide critically important storm warnings to residents of southwest Indiana. I am pleased that our work will finally pay off and provide a new measure of safety to Hoosiers in the region.”

NOAA Weather Service forecasters in Paducah and Louisville, Ky., St. Louis, Lincoln, Ill., and Indianapolis will use data from the radar to develop their forecasts and warnings.

“This radar gives our forecasters more information to help them generate even better products, which will heighten public safety when severe weather threatens,” said Keeney.

NOAA Weather Service awarded a 10-year, $8.7 million contract to Enterprise Electronics Corporation from Enterprise, Ala., to install and maintain the new radar. Construction began on Sept. 14, 2002.

“Data is available from the radar in this final testing phase, as we move to operational status,” McCarthy said. “Our forecasters will have plenty of time to incorporate the new radar into their warning and forecast operations before the upcoming severe weather season.”

NOAA National Weather Service is the primary source of weather data, fore-casts and warnings for the United States and its territories. NOAA Weather Service operates the most advanced weather and flood warning and forecast system in the world, helping to protect lives and property and enhance the national economy.

The Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources.

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