Coastal Radar

The new coastal radar is here! AND IT'S OPERATIONAL! Beginning yesterday the data from the new coastal radar, just north of Hoquiam, was being streamed to the outside world. You can see the long range images at the
National Weather Service Seattle office site,

National Weather Service

You can see the radar picks up on echoes well out over the Pacific and stretching out towards Vancouver Island (frontal band that will break down by today). This is an incredible day for Western Washington weather technology as state legislature and Professors from the University of Washington have been fighting for this radar for over a decade. This radar will be a crucial piece of understanding the structure of storms coming in from the Pacific. It is equipped with the new Dual Polarization technology that will help detect the types of particles (ice, snow, rain, heavy rain, hail, etc.) that are in the clouds. The Camano Island radar will now be shut down for 10-14 days as it also will receive this new technology. Washington will be the first state in the US will all of their radars fully operational with Dual Pol technology.

Have a great day! Will have a brief post soon about some actual weather :)

Top 50 Amateur Blogs

Recently I received an email regarding some of the best amateur meteorology blogs out on the web. Somehow, by some miracle, I made the top 50. I feel it is my duty to not only make you aware of the recognition but also share with you some of the other weather blogs out there that are in my opinion, quite fantastic. I have not looked at all of these, and I don't think I know any of the authors but I have followed a few and these guys sure do know what they are talking about. Here is the website so you can take a look at the top 50 Amateur Meteorology Blogs

http://www.associatedegreeonline.net/amateur-meteorology

Oh and by the way, I will be heading back up to the Northwest in the next week so expect some upcoming blogs about the weather. Seeing as I've been in Southern California for the summer, It has been a bit difficult to keep up on Northwest Weather. I will certainly get back to it once school kicks back up :)