Charleston , Kanawha County , West Virginia

Meteorologists will soon know more about the precipitation they see on radar.

The National Weather Service is upgrading all of its radars across the country to dual-polarization or dual-pol.

Right now, the 88D radar can only receive information horizontally.

The dual-pol radar can look both horizontally and vertically into the atmosphere.

This will help determine what kind of precipitation and how much is falling. The Charleston National Weather Service in Charleston said this is especially important in this area.

“The topography here is amazing,” Warning Coordination Meteorologist Faith Borden said. “You can go from river level up to several thousand feet very quickly. With the upgrade to the radar, especially with the sampling horizontally and vertically, we'll be able to see a little better in the structure,”
The last time the Charleston radar received a significant hardware upgrade was 1994.

While this is a big advancement in the science of meteorology, it doesn’t eliminate the need for lots of collaboration.

“We still need ground truth, we still need the public, we still need spotters, co-op observers,” Borden said. “All of these people are still very important to us.”

All of the National Weather Service radars will be upgraded by the end of 2013.

Eyewitness Storm Team meteorologists also will have access to this new radar. You can always check the weather 24/7 right here on our webpage. Just click on the Weather tab.

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