Where Are the Dopplers? : Old radar technology leaves L.A. with poor storm warning

When severe weather strikes, as it did this week when downpours caused flash-flooding across Southern California, forecasters at the National Weather Service have the job of alerting the public to the danger as quickly as possible.

That didn’t happen Monday when one of the most intense storms in a century arrived, stranding motorists and putting lives at risk as water rose in the Sepulveda Dam Basin. And Wednesday, tragedy struck: A number of deaths were attributed to a second storm.

Had the federal government acted more quickly, a state-of-the art Doppler radar system, also called NEXRAD, would have been in place and able to provide meteorologists with more precise data about storm size and intensity. On Monday forecasters were using outdated equipment that could determine only the location of a storm, not its intensity.

With the Doppler system, meteorologists can gauge wind velocity and direction, storm-circulation patterns, the amount of water in a storm, and storm density. Such equipment already has been installed in some Midwestern areas that are frequently ravaged by severe weather, giving forecasters valuable lead time in notifying the public.

Delivery of the new radar has been delayed because of an unfortunate and unnecessary squabble between the government and Unisys Corp., which was awarded a six-year, $359-million contract to build 165 Doppler systems, including 115 for the Weather Service, for use across the country.

It’s easy to say that predicting the weather is an imprecise science. But when the technology exists to increase the accuracy of a forecast, it is up to the federal government to expedite any improvement that can save lives and property. It’s long past time to get those Dopplers up and running.