Contact:  Stephanie Kenitzer            For Immediate Release
          Patrick J. Slattery           October 16, 1996

NEW WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AND FORECAST OFFICE PREFERRED SITE SELECTED FOR NORTHERN INDIANA-NORTHWEST OHIO AREA

A site just north of the town of North Webster, Ind., in Kosciusko County, has been identified as the preferred location for the new National Weather Service forecast office and Doppler radar (WSR-88D) that will serve northern Indiana and northwest Ohio, the National Weather Service announced today.

"Weather service employees working with our contractor completed an extensive investigation of almost 50 possible locations for the new office and Doppler radar to cover northern Indiana and northwest Ohio," said National Weather Service Director Elbert W. Friday Jr. "This site near North Webster best satisfies the meteorological needs of the communities. We look forward to proceeding with property acquisition and construction of the radar tower and office."

The site is on land currently owned by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and adjacent to that agency's maintenance facility on State Highway 13. Current NWS plans call for installation of a WSR-88D weather radar on the site by mid- June 1997. The forecast office is expected to be completed in the summer of 1998.

"When the WSR-88D is installed, our forecasters will occupy a temporary facility adjacent to the site," added Friday. "We want to ensure that residents in the region realize immediate benefits from the new radar."

The October 1995 Secretary's Report to Congress on Adequacy of NEXRAD Coverage and Degradation of Weather Services under National Weather Service Modernization for 32 Areas of Concern recommended the addition of a WSR-88D and forecast office in an area that would provide the best coverage of severe weather phenomena in the northern Indiana and northwest Ohio region. The Secretary's Report also recommended that the radar be located to cover, as much as possible and without compromising the severe weather coverage, lake effect snow which frequently affects northern Indiana in the winter. Using the Commerce Secretary's report as a starting point, an evaluation team completed an analysis to determine the optimal radar and office location.

Weather radars are one of the many tools that make up the modernized National Weather Service. Other technologies that complement the radar network include advanced weather satellites, automated surface observing systems, superspeed computers and sophisticated information processing and communications systems.

The National Weather Service is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which operates under the U.S. Department of Commerce.

                              # # #

Editor's Note: At 2 p.m. central time, Site Survey Team Leader Gary Foltz and Public Affairs Officer Pat Slattery will be on hand at the site to give a brief statement, provide additional details and answer any media questions. They will also provide copies of location and radar coverage maps along with a 13-page summary of the report on which Dr. Friday based his site selection.