Contact:  Chris Smith             FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
          Randee Exler            9/23/96

WEATHER RADAR PREFERRED SITE SELECTED FOR NORTHEASTERN ALABAMA

A site on Alabama Route 79 north of Hytop, Ala., has been identified as the preferred location for the new Next Generation Weather Radar (WSR-88D) that will serve northern Alabama, southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia. The announcement was made jointly today by Congressman Bud Cramer of Alabama's fifth congressional district and Elbert W. Friday Jr., director of the National Weather Service.

"The Hytop site best satisfies the meteorological needs of this area," said Friday. "This location would have no obstructions to the radar beam and would provide excellent coverage for the region."

According to Friday, siting the radar near Hytop will increase the density of radar coverage throughout the region. It will complement existing radars located near Birmingham; Atlanta; Nashville and Morristown, Tenn.; and Columbus, Miss.

"Now that a preferred site has been selected, we will immediately begin our next steps, starting with the environmental assessment," Friday said. The system is expected to be delivered in April 1997. "If all goes well, the new radar will be operating next summer," said Friday.

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 in an area that would provide the best coverage of severe weather phenomena in the northern Alabama, southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia region. Using the Commerce Secretary's report as a starting point, an evaluation team completed an analysis to determine the optimal radar location. The Hytop site was one of nine sites evaluated.

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.

                                
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