By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The state’s first coastal Doppler radar has been turned on and will soon be able to help weather forecasters improve their predictions of storms over Southwest Washington such as the December 2007 disaster that left large parts of Lewis County underwater.
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell and the National Weather Service announced yesterday the new technology should be operational by the end of September.
The Olympic Mountains block the state’s only other Doppler radar, and the change means authorities will be able to give more accurate and timely warnings to residents in harms way, according to a news release from Cantwell’s office.
It’s a change Boistfort-area Fire Chief Gregg Peterson is looking forward to.
Everyone knew it rained hard, but had no way of knowing how much precipitation had fallen and for long in early December 2007, according to Peterson.
Had authorities been able to get the word out sooner, Peterson thinks hundreds, if not thousands, of animals could have been moved and saved.
Up to 20 inches in 24 hours hit the coastal mountains of Southwest Washington during that storm, according to University of Washington Professor Cliff Mass.
For more details on the radar, read information from Mass’s weather blog, here
And remember, when November comes around, links to the National Weather Service’s weather forecasts and river levels are always on the right-hand sidebar of Lewis County Sirens.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter