Weather Service Computer Tracking to Grow

Twenty-one computer terminals linking a variety of new technologies for weather forecasting will be installed this year across the country, the National Weather Service said Thursday.

Called the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System, or AWIPS, the terminals will combine, at a single workstation, data received from new Doppler radars, automated ground observing systems and satellites to help forecasters analyze conditions and predict changes.

Installation of the units this summer and fall was approved by Commerce Secretary William Daley, the Weather Service announced. A decision on installing AWIPS across the country is expected to be made in December, following evaluation of its use at the 21 new sites as well as prior tests.

Plans call for 148 installations at a total cost of $550 million.

“AWIPS will allow our forecasters to make the most of new technologies that we’ve put in place with the modernization,” said Weather Service Director Elbert W. Friday. “Now they will be able to rapidly gather and assess the most meaningful information needed to issue critical forecasts and warnings.”

Three of the new systems will go to Weather Service regional headquarters offices in Kansas City, Mo.; Bohemia, N.Y.; and Salt Lake City.

Eleven will be installed in weather forecast offices in Oklahoma City; Minneapolis; Duluth, Minn.; Bismarck, N.D.; Hastings, Neb.; Dallas-Fort Worth; New Orleans; State College, Pa.; Philadelphia; New York; and Portland, Ore.

River forecast centers will get five of the new units, in Minneapolis; Fort Worth; New Orleans; State College; and Portland, Ore.

And two will be installed in the Weather Service training center in Kansas City.