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New Doppler radar unit being installed in Muscle Shoals

KG4KBU

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MUSCLE SHOALS — Data provided by a new Doppler weather radar system being installed on a city water tower will be a tremendous help during severe weather events, Colbert County Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Smith said.

The system is being installed on the tower by Huntsville television station WAAY, Muscle Shoals Water Board Manager James Vance said.

"I didn't know anything about it until yesterday," Smith said. "It's news to us, but it's welcome news."

Smith said Emergency Operations Center employees saw the work going on through a camera mounted on a 120-foot tower at the Emergency Management Agency's headquarters in downtown Tuscumbia.

"Being able to access that data from right here would be tremendous," Smith said. "We would have a much clearer picture right at the heart of the storms and not in the dead zone."

Meteorologists and others have said the Shoals lies in a weather radar "dead zone" that sometimes does not detect smaller tornadoes entering the state from the west.

Smith said the Shoals is at the outer edges of radar systems in Memphis, Tennessee, Columbus, Mississippi, and Huntsville.

Vance and the water board were able to negotiate terms for a lease and assist with installation of the unit on the tower, which is near Cox Boulevard.

He said the lease varies and could be as much as $500 per month.

Vance said the radar unit was placed atop the tower on Wednesday, and installation is expected to be completed this week.

"Myself and the board of directors were eager to help out with the project," he said.



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