FORT WORTH, Texas — An important tool when it comes to weather forecasting and storm tracking would be the doppler radar. Just like your car needs a tune up, so do the radars at our National Weather Service sites.
The radar in Fort Worth is now back in operation following the completion of a two-week long project known as the NEXRAD service life extension program (SLEP).
Technicians used a crane to remove the large radome from its tower to refurbish and replace a few parts. "Radome" is a portmanteau coming from the two words, radar and dome. This is the piece that you see outside sitting on top of a laddered tower, resembling a large volleyball.
The outside portion is the outer shell, or dome, usually made from a light material such as fiberglass. It's purpose is to protect the radar from the outside elements.
Inside the dome is the radar, which is a dish that rotates at different angles capturing data. The radar dish sits on top of a pedestal which is responsible for the antenna's rotation. Work was done on the pedestal and it's gears as part of a four-step process in ensuring radar sites like these will run correctly for another 25 years.
"Over East Texas we have the benefit of two overlapping beams at different heights to hopefully give us a good analysis of what's happening in those storms so we can analyze trends and severity."
Meteorologist Jennifer Dunn is the warning coordinator at the Fort Worth office, where the project has been taking place. Five radar sites cover East Texas.
The Shreveport radar is the closest but having the Fort Worth office working at it's peak performance is crucial for us in East Texas when we're tracking storms moving in from the West.
"We're very thankful to have our close partners within the broadcast media to help us really push and explain and amplify that message out because we know that usually is the first source of information that residents turn to when they're looking to find out what is going on with the weather in their area."
The now complete repair is one of many similar projects being worked on within the network of more than 150 operational radars across our country.
