In Mar. 20-26 issue

There’s a new radar in town and just like the sitcom character this radar knows just what’s coming and is willing to tell, before it arrives.

Joey Hoover at WJRS said their new interactive color radar system at the radio station will greatly improve their severe storm coverage tremendously:

“This is the latest in technology as far as weather radar,” Hoover said.
The addition provides the on-air staff with the ability to track approaching storms, see the amount of rainfall inside the storms as well as lightning strikes.

He said the Storm Tracker Plus system tracks all the watches and warnings as well as displaying information on any tornado or suspected tornadoes, including their path and times they could reach cities in their path.

Some of the improved features of the system Hoover outlined:

• Precisely tracking of severe storms giving the station the ability to broadcast the estimated time of arrival in neighborhoods and communities

• Detection of rotation in the clouds indicating a possible tornado

• Localized mapping to report the roads and neighborhoods lying in harms’ way

• Ability to monitor lightning strikes and projected amounts of rainfall, snow, etc. during a storm

• Predict a storm’s path up to 30 minutes into the future

• Instantly communicate with severe storm spotters in the field receiving and relaying their observations

“We are very excited about the many capabilities of this new technology which is being provided through partnership with Duo-County Telephone and Bluegrass Cellular,” Hoover said.

He explained that as spring weather opens in full force in this area this system allows the station to communicate instantly with all the storm spotters in the county, sending information to them and receiving their reports through a text messaging feature.

“We’ll still be answering the phone and taking reports from our listeners,” Hoover added.