Replacement For Aging Doppler Radar Being Tested

longacre writes "Due to its limited range and slow scan times, the backbone of weather prediction in the US since the early 1990s, the NEXRAD radar system, is deeply flawed in the eyes of meteorologists. A new system being tested by researchers at the NOAA and four universities called the Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) network aims to fill the holes left by NEXRAD, using radar nodes piggybacked onto existing infrastructure, such as rooftops and cell towers. From the article: 'Based on faster and more comprehensive data collection, [Distributed Collaborative Adaptive Sensing] processing can refocus the CASA radars on a particularly interesting part of a storm (like an area that looks like it might develop a tornado) without losing track of an entire storm cell. "The system is continuously diagnosing the atmosphere and reallocating resources using wireless Internet as a backbone," says [the CASA team director].' Testing has begun in Oklahoma, Houston, and Puerto Rico, and initial installations could begin in 5 years."

Comments

First ping

[Anonymous Coward]

10.75 us before anyone else

Better prediction means...

[TapeCutter]

...lives will be saved, OTOH it also increases the likelyhood of a traffic jam of storm chasers in the the exact spot "the finger of God" lands.

Re:Rednecks.

[Anpheus]

It's still property, it's still their home.

And they still lost it.

Re:Rednecks.

[whereareweheadedto]

Very true. It's funny to make fun of rednecks, but when it comes to tragedy, they are still people. Unless they really make the disaster bigger, than it should be, due to their actions.

Slow

[Wowsers]

Suppose that doppler radar is slow, and that it takes 5 seconds for it to do a 360 degree sweep. Is a faster system going to improve the generally rubbish weather forecasts of "it might rain today"?

Re:Slow

[giorgist]

At this point the best weather predictor is ...

"Tomorrow will be the same as today"

It beats the weather man by far and wide

G

Re:Slow

[CastrTroy]

The problem with weather forecasting is that they try to forecast way too far in advance. Checking out my local forecast, I see that they have until tuesday on the forecast. An entire week is too long to predict for weather. But they go further. There's now the 14 day trend. None of that is even worth looking at. I only trust the next day or two, and even that is a little fuzzy sometimes.

Re:Slow

[Hatta]

5 seconds? We had a tornado here in Omaha a couple weeks ago, and the sirens provided no warning because it hit during the 5 minute blind spot in the radar. On one pass it was a severe thunderstorm, on the next pass it was a tornado on the ground.

If they can't make the radar rotate faster, they should add more dishes to the same radar so it's looking in 2 or 3 directions at once.

Re:Rednecks.

[oodaloop]

Well, when you're poor there aren't many great options of where to live. I'm sure if they could afford better real estate, they would move. When I was poor I lived in an apt near an airport because it was all I could afford. If all I could afford in my area was a trailer in a tornado zone, well then I guess that's where I'd live.

Re:Rednecks.

[oodaloop]

I'M on a high horse? For what, pointing out how poor I've been? You're blaming the victim, calling them stupid for living where they do, making fun of the way they talk, discounting all the hardship and turmoil theses people go through, and I'M on a high horse?

Re:Rednecks.

[baldass_newbie]

Why don't you pay for the general lack of intelligence and house these people?

I do. I'm a taxpayer. I also pay for their insurance claims since I live in a low-risk area. Plus I give to charity.
So what's your point, other than you like to ridicule rednecks who have suffered in a disaster?

Re:Rednecks.

[Ngarrang]

I'm sure if they could afford better real estate, they would move. For some, yes, but 'home' can encompass more than just the 4 walls and the roof, or a postage-stamp yard. I grew up in the country with thousands of acres of farm landing surround me. It was nice. The air was clean, the environment was safe. The neighbors were pleasant. There is the sum total to consider and that very factor is what will keep people considering rebuilding on the edge of a volcano, next to a river, in tornado alley or next to the San Andreas fault.

Re:Rednecks.

[Talderas]

Build below sea-level in a hurricane region and near a river delta, expect a city to get flooded.

Re:Rednecks.

[Culture20]

It's a trailer, move it down the road. Hey, tornado zone ends over there! We're movin! No, instead they cluster up. I suppose the reason this person posted anon is because they new it was an illogical statement. Trailer homes don't move (they're not RVs), and there's no such thing as a "Tornado Zone". Cluster up? Tornadoes aren't really drawn to trailer parks; they just get damaged easier.

Re:Rednecks.

[Gilmoure]

After 2004 hurricane season in Florida (we had a bit of roof damage and some trees/fences down), I did a bit of research (have a much better natural disaster map at home buy my server's down; D'oh!) and we've resettled in the central New Mexico area. The only thing we have to worry about is mild chance of earth quakes and volcanos. We're close enough to the mountains that tornadoes don't form, far enough away to miss wild fires and heavy snow fall and there's no chance of flood, assuming someone doesn't drop a dino killer in the Indian ocean. We're also at high enough altitude that we don't have cockroaches, fleas, ticks, or fire ants. We do have bees, wasps, snakes and scorpions but that's about it for ouchy critters. Oh yeah, the year we moved out there, there was a lion hunting around our area, taking goats and chickens but there hasn't been a human killed by mountain lion since early 70's, though there was that kid that was attacked by something, hiking in the mountains. Still, with dogs, guns, and 40 acres of land outside of town, I feel pretty safe. Now, just have to get started on the bomb shelter.