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Weather
Radar Development Highlight of NSSL's First 40 Years
by Susan Cobb
Posted 11/10/04
Who would have imagined that radar technology designed
to detect and locate hostile aircraft and missiles in WWII would serve
as the basis for today's advanced weather
radar systems. At that time, storms were a nuisance that obscured
valuable data. Later, however, users realized the potential benefits of
radar for weather detection. Now, the NOAA
National Weather Service relies daily on radar to detect, locate and
measure precipitation inside clouds. In fact, today's radars are so advanced
they can even identify types of precipitation, detect important weather
features that make a storm severe, and track and predict the motion of
storms.
NOAA
National Severe Storms Laboratory
Much of the credit for modern weather radar systems should be given to
the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory
in Norman, Okla., which celebrated its 40th
anniversary in mid-October. "We want to take
this time to savor our accomplishments over these past 40 years and look
optimistically toward the future," said James
F. Kimpel, NSSL director.
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