Print edition: 
Installation of the next generation of weather radar — known as dual polarization — has begun at the Wichita branch of the National Weather Service.
Wichita is among the first locations in the country to receive the upgraded radar, which will offer much more data to forecasters.
"There are some impressive differences between the old radar and the new," said Chance Hayes, warning coordination meteorologist for the weather service in Wichita.
The new radar will allow meteorologists to better detect the size of raindrops in a storm, leading to more accurate reports of rainfall estimates from a storm as it is occurring.
It will also allow forecasters to detect more accurately where snow, sleet or rain will be falling from a winter storm, Hayes said.
The radar will allow forecasters to better detect areas of icing or flocks of birds — information of particular interest to pilots
Dual polarization differs from the current Doppler radar in that it transmits both horizontal and vertical radio wave pulses into the atmosphere. Doppler, which came to the weather service's Wichita branch in 1993, sends only horizontal pulses.
The vertical pulses gather data at higher elevations, thus giving forecasters a better look at a storm's structure.
The average person won't notice a change in the radar images available on the weather service's website, Hayes said.
They will notice the Wichita radar won't be available while it's being upgraded over the next two weeks. Forecasters will use radars from offices surrounding Wichita — Topeka, Tulsa, Springfield, Mo., Dodge City, Vance Air Force Base near Enid, Okla. —in the interim, Hayes said.
The upgrade was initially projected to be completed last October, then early this year. The delays were caused by fine-tuning the manuals required for maintaining and repairing the radar, officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offices in Norman, Okla., have said.
While forecasters in Wichita have been training on the new radar for about a year, local officials were nonetheless relieved the transition is taking place during the relative tranquillity of summer — as opposed to during tornado season.
"There's no question," Hayes said with a chuckle.
The new radar has already been installed in Phoenix and Morehead City, N.C. Pittsburgh is also being upgraded at the same time as Wichita.
The upgrade is tentatively slated to be completed by July 18, Hayes said.
