Officials celebrate new Washington coastal radar

COPALIS BEACH, Wash. — The director of the National Weather Service, Sen. Maria Cantwell and Congressman Norm Dicks are among the officials who gathered Thursday on the Washington coast to celebrate the operation of a new Doppler radar station.

They say it will help save lives and property by improving storm forecasts.

Weather Service Director Jack Hayes thanked Cantwell for pushing for the funding that made the radar station possible.

The meteorologist in charge of the Seattle Weather Service office, Brad Colman, says forecasters already are using information from the radar station near Copalis Beach to close an information gap caused by the Olympics blocking the radar station at Camano Island.

The new radar station has dual-polarization technology to show the intensity of storms that may cause wind damage and flooding.

On the Web:

• UW professor and KPLU's weather forecaster Cliff Mass explains in detail in his story “Langley Hill Coastal Radar:  The Latest Addition to the National Weather Service Doppler Radar Network.”
• New radar will help with coastal weather 'blind spot'
• New radar on Washington coast will give forecasters a better look inside incoming storms
• Weather radar to improve Wash coast forecasts