Wendell, Minn. radar (Grant County Emer. Manager Tina Lindquist)
WENDELL, Minn. (KFGO) – A new weather radar will soon be activated in the small west-central Minnesota town of Wendell. It’s on top of the town’s water tower.
Grant County Emergency Manager Tina Lindquist said the high definition “X Band” is owned and maintained by Louisville, Kentucky-headquartered Climavision.
Lindquist said discussions about improving radar coverage in that part of the state have been underway for some time. She said traditional weather service radars in Mayville, N.D, Aberdeen, S.D, Minneapolis and Duluth. Minn. don’t have the range to cover her area.
“Around that 60 miles (radius), maybe a little bit more, this radar in Wendell will definitely help, obviously Grant County, Otter Tail County, Douglas County, Pope County, Stevens County, Traverse County, all around us,” Lindquist said. This is just one step, I mean more eyes to the sky, we don’t care how many radars they’re are, we don’t care what type of radars they are, we just want to ensure we have solid, equal weather radar coverage across the state of Minnesota,” she added.
Climavision is providing the data at no cost, which will be shared with the National Weather Service.
KFGO Chief Meteorologist Tom Szymanski said he believes the radar site will be a real asset.
“I do, it’s an X Band radar, National Weather Service radar is S band and S band goes out further and coverages a wider area, but X band has more resolution and is very good at picking up radar echoes closer by with greater detail, Szymanski said. “They all do (NWS radars) cover a substantial geographic space, but as to be expected, there are some gaps, even with these four radars that cover the area, so that there will be some places, especially when there are thunderstorm events, It’s kind of hard to pickup the data,” he continued.
Retired National Weather Service Meteorologist Greg Gust, who worked in Grand Forks, served as a volunteer consultant on what’s considered a pilot project that could eventually extend to other parts of Minnesota that are missed by weather service radar.
The Wendell radar should be activated within a few weeks.
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