[Kazan]

I've been poking around and I cannot find any evidence that europe has an advanced WX radar network - i've seen some current images of what they network can cough out - and they look like the weather radar the US had in like.. the 70s.


What Gives?  you have a lot less area to cover - you could cover all of germany with four or five WSR88D (NexRad) units - and probably get france and spain in the same number each... britain could probably be covered me three easily


What Gives?




[PS - i've been into meteorology longer than computers.. and that's what made me wonder]

[kasperl]

i don't know. Over here, the wheater is simple: it rains, and if it doesn't, it's gray.

in some very, very rare cases there is some great yellow thing peeking through, it looks like some stuff LS did. And in winter it sometimes snows.

[Ghostavo]

Because we don't have ****ing tornadoes...

Right?

[Kazan]

it's nice to know when the rain is approaching, etc


(the WSR88D network is also perfect for picking up severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, etc -- i have a program that gives me a more-or-less raw display including the cell detector)


image is large
http://kazan.gotdns.org/ScaleHigh.jpg

[Ghostavo]

We do know when rain is coming you know? We don't need more advanced stuff. That's what satellites are for....

And does that system work properly in mountain areas?

[Kazan]

work correctly in mountain areas? yes when properly calibrated

here is a national map: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/radar_tab.html

you'll notice some gaps in the moutains out west - that's due to no stations there because of not having any population there, occasionally stations do have to go offline for maintainance (looks at Maine and California)

[Ghostavo]

Even still... I don't see much usefulness in having another system (or is it sistem?) doing something another thing is already doing (satellites). We don't have "severe" thunderstorms and tornadoes so...

[Kazan]

system

satellites and radar's do not do the same thing - satellites show you cloud cover - they cannot tell you where actual storms are -- satellite images are also slow - a WSR88D produces a [complete] new image every 5 minutes - it can see wind directions and velocities, particle size, [ie tell the difference between rain, hail, snow], etc

[Ghostavo]

Of course not, but the beneficies of that radar system are not appliable in Europe from what I see... we don't have such extreme weather and because of the mountains over many parts of Europe and the nearby seas the weather is fairly constant.

[Kazan]

maybe i'm spoiled - but i like to know exactly where the rain is and when it's going to get here so i can avoid it

[Ghostavo]

Rain is good... snow is good... sun is good...
Even if you could avoid it, it wouldn't be any better or worse. Unless you're flying an aircraft... but they have radars so...

You need to go experience weather a bit more.



P.S.
Tornadoes are not good.

[aldo_14]

(UK)

http://www.metoffice.com/corporate/pressoffice/2004/pr20040325.html

Doesn't say what type of radar, natch..... but it's fair to say we've mostly learnt to tolerate the rain anyways - if we avoided it, we'd never go out

That said, we're actually in a bit of a drought justnow.... the rain is something like a tenth of the season average.  Still fricking freezing, tho.

[Flipside]

It's easy to tell when it's going to rain in England.


The fog clears

[IceFire]

Kazan....its probably a priorities thing.  I don't think European weather is as drastically changing as the patterns in North America.  Within a 4 hour travel radius of my house I can have tornadoes, servere thunderstorms (with hail, downbursts, etc.), water spouts, blizzards, clippers, streamers, and a whole host of other types of weather events with temperatures going towards 30c and higher in the summer and below -15c in the winter.

It pays big money to have a sophisticated system capable of warning people about all of the potentially severe and destructive weather.  Now I haven't specifically studied weather comparisons between various locations in the world but I think North America does rank up there in having a huge range of types in populated areas.  Not to mention that the continent is divided between two large nations with weather forcast requirements and the money and resources to establish a standardized system across the board.

[Kazan]

Originally posted by Ghostavo
You need to go experience weather a bit more.

i run down storms in vehicles for fun


i don't know exactly how much a WSR-88D costs.. but i know it has a range of 460km

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Kazan


i run down storms in vehicles for fun

and presumably then run away from them?

[Rictor]

I have a very simple system worked out. When its going to rain, by bones ache. Thats what you get for being old. And a pirate.

Or, when I'm not inclined to lie through my teeth, I just turn on the Weather Channel or their website.

[Kazan]

aldo: take pictures

i sadly don't get to do it that often -- when I get my very own car and i can add on the extra $15/month +
upfront cost to get a sprint PCS wireless card for my laptop i will be able to do it a lot easier

[kasperl]

Originally posted by Rictor

Or, when I'm not inclined to lie through my teeth, I just turn on the Weather Channel or their website.

interesting play of words. I have a slightly damaged front tooth, and if it is going to freeze, it hurts when i breath.

[Kazan]

you guys are weak i don't even need anything wrong with my body to feel the weather

of course i've been chasing after storms as long as i can remember