Residents in mid- and eastern-Missouri will soon get better warning of dangerous weather, and scientists will have a new tool to help agriculture cope with changes in climate. Early this summer a new Doppler weather radar will be raised at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources' South Farm Research Center.
The radar will close a gap over central Missouri not fully covered by radar sites in Kansas City and St. Louis. The radar beams from those metro radars is almost 10,000 feet high by the time it reaches mid-Missouri due to the curvature of the earth, missing important components of storms that develop over the Columbia and Jefferson City areas.
Jim Kramper of the National Weather Service in St. Louis said his forecasters are excited to get their hands on the new data. “While we have the entire state of Missouri covered, naturally as you go further out in range, you`re going to start losing things,” said Kramper.
The new radar will not only help Missouri’s central communities, but also provide forecasters an earlier look at developing weather that could later impact eastern Missouri and western Illinois. Severe weather usually tracks to the northeast.
The radar will give MU atmospheric science students hands-on experience in the latest forecasting tools and interpreting real-time data. More than 100 undergraduate and graduate students study weather and climate at MU, going into careers in forecasting, teaching and research.
Reviewed 2015-02-20