THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 16, 1994 TAG: 9412160525
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
The National Weather Service says that its forecasting system, which opened Thursday, will help keep a better watch over Virginia for tornadoes, flash floods and other weather calamities.
The new weather service regional office at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center will use more-sophisticated radar, high altitude balloons and more manpower.
``We expect the forecasts to get a hell of a lot better,'' said Jim Belville, who heads the weather service in Virginia.
The new radar system now covering all of Virginia will provide forecasters with precise information on all manner of foul weather as it develops, including wind, wind shear and precipitation.
The weather service has opened modernized, regional offices with Doppler radar in Sterling and Wakefield and plans to close obsolete stations in Roanoke, Lynchburg, Richmond and Norfolk and decommission a radar system in Volens, Belville said.
Weather service meteorologist John Wright said that having the more sophisticated office in western Virginia is good news for all of the state because storms generally move from west to east.
With radars using the Doppler effect - the change of frequency in sound or light waves that comes as the speed of an object changes - allows forecasters to ``see'' inside storms.
Doppler radar can detect wind-driven precipitation away or toward the radar, giving clear indications of wind rotation.
The improved forecasting will allow the weather service to provide a better and faster estimate of snowfall and rainfall, which is critical in mountainous areas of western Virginia and eastern West Virginia that are susceptible to flash flooding, he said.
``You can see moisture before clouds actually form with this radar,'' Wright said. ``With the old radar you could only see the beginning of rainfall.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Meteorologist Michael T. Emlaw shows off the new radar system in
Blacksburg. It will provide forecasters with precise information on
all manner of foul weather as it develops, including wind, wind
shear and precipitation.
by CNB