News - Blogs - Fort Smith radar upgrade done; Tulsas starts Wednesday

Fort Smith radar upgrade done; Tulsa's starts Wednesday
Published: 9/11/2012 4:09 PM
Last Modified: 9/11/2012 4:09 PM

It's actually a two-dimensional view...

One down, one to go.

The National Weather Service office in Tulsa is halfway through its upgrade of the radars in its forecast area to dual polarization radar. (I wrote about dual-pol radar last week, so click here for a refresher.)

Dual polarization upgrades to the Fort Smith radar site (KSRX) were completed Monday. It is now producing dual-pol data. That’s really exciting! The upgrade began Sept. 6 and was completed four days later, way ahead of schedule. That’s great news, because during the upgrade the radars are offline.

Now, NWS Tulsa officials say the Tulsa area radar site (KINX) is due to begin its upgrade Wednesday. Officials said the radar could be down for as many as 12 days during the upgrade, but like KSRX and other radars across the country, it could take less time than that.

If the schedule stays, KINX would be down for at least the rest of the week, meaning the Tulsa radar would be down when a cold front comes through Thursday and Friday, bring a chance of thunderstorms to the area.

When the remnants of Hurricane Isaac came through Arkansas, NWS Tulsa officials delayed the upgrade at KSRX. So, it could be delayed, but it looks like the process is go.

Just because the Tulsa radar is down doesn’t mean the forecasters will be flying blind. Fort Smith radar, Oklahoma City radar, Vance Air Force Base radar and Wichita radar would help fill in the gaps.

Once the Tulsa upgrade is complete, forecasters will have just a plethora of data to dig through from eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. And judging from the forecaster I spoke with for my story, they are stoked. Christmas came early this year!

For more an dual-pol, I had to share this. NOAA Weather Partners put together this video that is as informative as it is cheesy. Like, almost cringe-worthy in its cheese. It's a must-watch.

-Jerry Wofford

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Razor1911 (5 months ago)

There is also the luxury of having the TDWR in Broken Arrow to cover the Tulsa metro area in the event of severe weather.

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Almanac

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

	Temperature		Precipitation
Date	High Temp	Low Temp	Total	Month to date	Historical average
1	44°	16°	0	0.00	0.05
2	59°	24°	0	0.00	0.11
3	57°	33°	0	0.00	0.16
4	68°	37°	Trace	0.00	0.21
5	69°	29°	0	0.00	0.26
6	66°	33°	0	0.00	0.32
7	59°	38°	0.05	0.05	0.38
8	51°	34°	0	0.05	0.44
9	44°	36°	0.01	0.06	0.51
10	62°	37°	0.07	0.13	0.57
11	54°	28°	0	0.13	0.64
12	44°	30°	0.25	0.38	0.70
13	55°	40°	0.01	0.39	0.76
14	°	°			0.83
15	°	°			0.89
16	°	°			0.95
17	°	°			1.02
18	°	°			1.09
19	°	°			1.16
20	°	°			1.23
21	°	°			1.31
22	°	°			1.38
23	°	°			1.46
24	°	°			1.53
25	°	°			1.61
26	°	°			1.69
27	°	°			1.77
28	°	°			1.85

TEMPERATURE

RAINFALL

SNOWFALL

Weather World

Follow Jerry Wofford on Twitter for updates during severe weather conditions.

Tulsa weather milestones of 2013 (as of Feb. 12)

Highest temperature: 70 on Jan. 11 (Record: 115 on Aug. 15, 1936)
Lowest temperature: 15 on Jan. 16 (Record: Minus-16 on Jan. 22, 1930)
Hottest month (average): 40.5 degrees in January (Record: 91.7 degrees on July 1980)
Coldest month (average): 40. 5 degrees in January (Record: 21.7 in January 1918)
Most snowfall (day): 0.1 of an inch on Feb. 12(Record: 13.2 inches on Feb. 1, 2011)
Most snowfall (month): 0.1 of an inch in February(Record: 22.5 inches in February 2011)
Most rainfall (day): 0.91 of an inch on Jan. 29 (Record: 9.27 inches on May 26-27, 1984)
Most rainfall (month): 1.54 of an inch in January (Record: 18.18 inches on September 1971)
Highest wind speed: 30 mph on Jan. 30
Previous day with any rain: Feb. 12
Previous day with 1 inch or more of rain: Oct. 17, 2012
Previous day with any snow: Feb. 12
Previous day with freezing temperatures: Feb. 12
Read regular updates on Oklahoma's unpredictable weather and learn more about meteorology from the Tulsa office of the National Weather Service.

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Contributors
Staff Writer Althea Peterson started writing for the Tulsa World in March 2007 after previous stops at the Norman Transcript in 2006 and the Oklahoma Gazette in 2005. She followed her older brother from rural Wisconsin (with a public school that never seemed to call snow days) to the University of Oklahoma, but did not follow his pursuit to study meteorology. However, she tries to find as many opportunities to report on the weather as possible.

Staff Writer Jerry Wofford came to the Tulsa World in 2010 from The Manhattan Mercury in Manhattan, Kan. Originally from western Arkansas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Jerry has lived in Tornado Alley his entire life and is one of those people who goes outside when the sirens go off.

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