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Weather radar west of Edmonton returning after major upgrades

A weather radar in the Edmonton area is getting its biggest upgrade in decades.

On Monday, Jan. 24, the radar west of Edmonton was supposed to finally come back online. Over the weekend, it was delayed until Wednesday.  

This will be the most significant technological advancement since Doppler was installed at the Carvel radar back in 1991.

The current upgrade will increase the overall range to 400 kilometres and the Doppler range will double to 240 kilometres.

More importantly, the old single-polarization radar is switching over to dual polarization. Instead of just scanning the atmosphere horizontally, we'll now have a radar that emits a beam horizontally and vertically.

This allows meteorologists to determine size, shape and composition of precipitation (rather than just where the precipitation is).

The new radar won't just offer new data, it'll also do it much faster than the old system.

Improvements at the Environment and Climate Change Canada radar located near Carvel started at the end of August. Supply chain disruptions forced the initial completion date of December to be pushed back. But, starting Wednesday, radar coverage returns.

It's not known why Environment and Climate Change Canada delayed the return of Carvel radar to Jan. 26. 

This is the fifth and final upgrade to the ECCC radar network in Alberta. It's part of a nationwide effort to modernize weather radars. A sixth radar will become operational near Fort McMurray later in 2022.

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