Environment Canada is replacing the Bethune weather tower this summer.
The new tower will have the latest forecasting technology and will double the range of the Doppler radar to 240 kilometres.
Meteorologist with Environment Canada Terri Lang talked about the upgrades and how it’ll improve radar detection in the tower’s coverage area.
“It sends signals in both horizontal and vertical, and what that means is it better defines the precipitation that’s falling whether it’s rainfall, snowflakes, etc.,” said Lang.
She mentioned how crews can only replace one tower at a time in all of Canada.
So while this tower is being built and the old one is offline, what happens in the meantime for meteorologists when determining forecasts and finding severe weather for the area?
Lang explained how no systems have been missed during the replacement process since a temporary tower has been put in place to provide forecasts for the Regina area.
A good move by the weather agency considering the number of storms experienced in the province throughout June and July.
“There are other radars within the prairies that also experience severe weather in the summer, so it’s trying to do that balancing act.”
Lang confirmed that the new tower should be online by the end of August.
All that’s left for crews to work on is making sure all the outputs are going out correctly and to get it up and running.