Southern Oklahoma to get new tornado radar system

Tuesday, April 26th 2005, 5:42 pm

By: News On 6

CHICKASHA, Okla. (AP) An experimental radar system aimed at giving meteorologists a clearer picture of a forming tornado is being installed in Chickasha, Rush Springs, Lawton and Cyril.

University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Kelvin Droegemeier says the system is expected to go online by next spring.

The radar system is being developed jointly by the University of Oklahoma and three other universities. It is called the Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere program, said Droegemeier, who also is director of the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms.

The radars in the four communities will form a diamond-shaped test bed.

Droegemeier said the system is designed to fill in the current blind spot in NEXRAD radar which is caused by the curvature of the earth.