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Show HILL TOP TIMES 12 Wednesday, November 26, 1 986 (20 I' 4 i , 110 100- - - 80 90 i i : 60i - r -- -- : i 401 - i 10 ' 10 20 I 40 50 30 20i 0 70 30 50 eir New radar helps base keep an eye on things By A1C Ogden A Jay Joersz Affairs Office tional Radar Replacement Program. ALC Public The weather radar is unit presently being installed at Detachment 6 of the 17th Weather Squadron here. Hill AFB is one of 20 Air Force installations around the world to receive the new radar as part of the Opera state-of-the-a- WSR-74- will replace the aging C radar currently used at Hill and other bases. The new radar is similar to those used by the National Weather Service and will be the only weather radar in Utah. "The radar will significantly enhance the detachment's capability to FPS-7- 7 rt the mountains from the storms. To help them pick out the mountains a transparent diagram of the surrounding area is placed over the screen. monitor and forecast the weather," said Maj. Mike W. Kowa, Det. 6 commander. When storms are present, the detachment sends an hourly weather report by teletype which any weather station in the world could use if they wanted. "Since the new radar is extremely sensitive to precipitation, it will be easier to pick up thunderstorms and snowstorms," explained the major. The radar is so sensitive it can detect as small as .01 inch of precipitation per hour. Another advantage of the radar is the advanced monitor which displays a color enhanced readout of the weather. The monitor allows weathermen to find the different levels of precipitation intensities within a storm by displaying varied degrees of color. For example, the heaviest precipitation in a storm may be red on the monitor and the lightest, yellow. Weather radars find storms by transmitting electromagnetic radiation into the airwaves with a rotating antenna disc. When the electromagnetic waves hit an object an echo return is sent back and storm images are projected on the monitor screen. Most of the time it is a storm, but the numerous mountains surrounding the base can fool the inexperenced eye, says Major Kowa. "Sometimes it's difficult to pick out the storm systems from the mountains," explained Major Kowa. With the current radar, the monitor displays various shades of gray on a blank screen to show storm intensity. Because of the monitor's simplicity, sometimes it's difficult to distinguish The new radar will simplify the mountain problem in a few ways. One, it will have a computerized map of Utah, which includes the mountains, constantly displayed on the screen. Two, the monitor's color enhancement can make mountains easier to distinguish from storms. If a storm is picked up, they can stop the rotating antenna and keep an eye on it for further developments. With the radar, weathermen can calculate the intensity and location of the storm as well as how hard and how long it's going to rain or snow. With the color separations they can often tell if there is hail or a tornado in the thunderstorm system. Also, the new radar can take photographs and store them in its memory. Base meteorologists will then be able to play back the recorded radar picture which looks similar to the one a television weatherman uses during his broadcast. The radar is scheduled to be completely installed and ready for operation by Dec. 17. But even this advanced radar system is not the creme de la creme of weather radars, according to Major Kowa. The WSR-74is a steppingstone to the Next Generation Radar (NEXRAD), Doppler Weather Radar, which will be Major operational in the Kowa says it is unknown when Hill will receive the NEXRAD system but the base will get it in due time. time-laps- e C mid-1990- s. 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