Doppler coming!

Daily World story yesterday reports radar weather station headed for Grays Harbor County, but . . . .where, exactly? Criteria (not in tsunami inundantion zone, reliable commercial power) makes North Beach unlikely:

A new Doppler radar station is coming to Grays Harbor County.
Construction for the new station has been fully funded in a wide-ranging appropriations bill President Barack Obama signed on Thursday.
The $7 million included in the 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, along with $2 million previously secured, is enough to provide Washington state with a full-blown Doppler coastal radar system, according to U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell.
Meteorologist Ted Buehner with the National Weather Service says four sites, all located on Grays Harbor, are being studied to house the new radar station. A final site selection is expected within the next month, he said. The National Weather Service hopes to have the system installed and fully operational sometime in 2012, if not earlier.
The site must meet more than 20 different criteria, Buehner said. Buehner says it’s important the site be located outside a tsunami inundation zone. Officials also want to be able to either purchase or lease the property, ensure it can receive reliable commercial power and be sure that a road can be built to it.

“This funding is a crucial victory for Washington state,”  Cantwell said in a release. “Doppler coverage in Washington state is incredibly inadequate and leaves residents vulnerable to storms and severe weather. We face some of the most severe storms in the nation, yet have the worst radar coverage of any coastal state. The new system will be able to track storms over 100 miles off our coast, allowing for more accurate short-term forecasting. Washingtonians will be able to better prepare themselves for the impact of massive storms, protecting our local businesses and homes.”

A congressionally funded report by four researchers from universities in Oklahoma and Massachusetts estimated the cost to build a long-range Doppler radar between $8.6 million and $10 million, which includes the costs to buy and install the radar as well as the land and supporting infrastructure. The annual maintenance cost is estimated at $500,000 per year.

Three counties — Grays Harbor, Thurston and Pacific — have less than 10 percent of their county area using existing Doppler radar coverage, which “complicates” weather forecasting, according to the report.

In December 2007, a wind storm on the coast lasted nearly 36 hours and recorded winds that topped 100 mph. Statewide, 14 people were killed and more than $1 billion in property damage was reported in western Washington. Advanced notice of the impending severe storm was hampered by the lack of radar coverage.

Local community leaders have pushed for a Doppler radar system for years.

Cliff Mass, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, says his dream would to see not only a coastal Doppler radar system, but an accompanying “Storms of the Pacific” museum, which could be a tourist boon to the area.

Steven Friederich, a Daily World writer, can be reached at (360) 537-3927 or by e-mail at sfriederich@thedailyworld.com