WEATHER WATCHER

New radar in Radisson

1 The new radar is a technological improvement on many levels. The one that might make the biggest difference to most people is that the range it scans has doubled in comparison to the old tower. The new radar has a 240-kilometre range; the old one could only reach 120 kilometres.

Mark Abt, senior radio technician with the Government of Canada, said the doubled range is thanks to around four times the power. Abt said the new system has the power to see right through storm clouds, if necessary.

2

Compared to the old tower, the new radar is a true giant. According to data from Environment and Climate Change Canada, the previous radar tower was about 20 metres tall and had a radome (radar dome)

4.2 metres in diameter. The new radar stands above 31 metres and has a radome dome more than nine metres in diameter.

“We as weather forecasters really like seeing stuff like this because we use this on a daily basis,” meteorologist Terri Lang said.

3

The radar does a lot of work without much oversight. The dish does a full rotation around the inside of the dome about once every eight seconds, and takes what Abt called 17 “slices” of data as part of each cycle. The total radar cycle takes about six minutes — down from the 10 minutes required with the old tower.

And thanks to new technology at work in the mechanical structure of the radar, Abt said only two maintenance checks will be required per year, compared to six for the old radar.

4

There’s a reason the new tower was built just metres away from the empty space where the old tower used to be.

Lang said when the first weather radar network went up years ago, it was designed to cover a specific area.

“They wanted to maximize the coverage across the population of Canada. So they were trying to set up a network that would cover the population as best they could,” she said.

5

The new radar uses a “dual polarization” system that Lang said will allow the radar to determine what type of precipitation is on the way, from light rain to hailstones.

The radar will also be able to pick up bigger threats than rain with more speed.

Lang said there should be more warning for thunderstorms and tornadoes (which can be difficult to predict) thanks to the new facility.

“I think it’ll make a big difference ... we’ll be able to see the bigger storms as they come.”

MATT OLSON Senior radio technician Mark Abt shows off the inside of the radome at the new weather radar station near Radisson. A big difference in the improved technology is its wider range of 240 kilometres.