Flood alert radar station may lessen damage risk

Gavin Havery in the Northern Echo (UK): A weather radar station that will provide more accurate forecasts and an earlier warning against flooding has gone live. The £1m station in High Moorsley, near Durham City, constantly sends and receives signals and “reads” rainfall data in 25,000 one-kilometre grid locations every five minutes.

This provides up to seven million readings a day from across the North-East. Thorough testing of the radar has been carried out since the station was completed in August, last year. It observes rainfall and records where, when and how hard it is raining, as well as how quickly rainfall is moving across the region.

Bill Wheeler, Met Office weather radar advisor, said: “Climate change will bring with it the risk of more extreme rainfall in the future. “This latest addition to our radar network will allow us to better forecast heavy rainfall and the risk of potential flooding across the North-East.”

…Phil Marshall, flood-risk team leader for the Environment Agency, said: “Recent flooding in the North-East has shown it is vital to be able to predict where and when rain will fall, so we can warn residents and the emergency services about potential flooding, and help reduce the risk of damage to property and loss of life….

This shows a radome at Menwith Hill, used by the US National Security Agency, and not the peaceful flood radome in High Moorsley.