New Washington doppler in place for the coast!

Looking out over the South Jetty and Chehalis river bar to Ocean Shores from Westport.

In early August of this year U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell announced the connection of Washington state's first coastal Doppler radar, where it went online for testing in order to improve detection and monitoring of storms over Southwest Washington. Around $9 million in federal dollars has been provided for the new radar. Funding for the new Doppler had been sought since Cantwell conducted a community outreach forum at Grays Harbor College to assess the impacts of the December 2007 storm. Testimony came from emergency officials, commercial fishermen and public officials about the need for a new Doppler radar to provide a better storm warning system.
 
Prior to the doppler there was major gap of radar coverage leaving forecasters with very incomplete data. Western Washington's only other Doppler radar is located on Camano Island, which is blocked by the Olympic Mountains. The new Coastal Doppler is located near Copalis Beach at a site known as Langley Hill in Grays Harbor County and was constructed over the summer. It's state-of-the-art radar technology will now enable Washington to better prepare for the impact of the many Pacific storms that frequent our coast and negatively impact businesses and homes from wind, rain, and flooding.

Testing has continued since mid summer and the Doppler should be operational with output available through the web and on the media by the end of the month!