Earmark for weather radar delights pros, amateurs

In between talks about real-time mesoscale analyses and weather-observation networks, meteorologists gathered at an annual weather workshop here Saturday could be forgiven if they felt like dancing a little jig in the hall.

Not just because it was the first full day of spring, or because the sixth-snowiest winter in Seattle was coming to a close.

What put the beam on faces of weather experts was an earmark out of Washington, D.C.: $2 million to help build a new Doppler weather radar on the coast of Washington state.

"Everyone's excited," said Cliff Mass, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington. "The coalition behind this is very wide."

The workshop drew about 100 weather experts — both amateurs and professionals, working and retired — to the National Weather Service's Sand Point headquarters to learn more about the newest ways to predict how much rain will fall and how hard the wind will blow.

In a region where people love to track the weather, it was one of the largest turnouts for the workshop ever, Weather Service meteorologist Ted Buehner said.

Radar is to a meteorologist what Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is to a doctor, Mass said. It allows weather experts to see inside a storm as it approaches. Using radar, they can analyze the storm's characteristics, such as areas of intense precipitation.

Of all the coastal areas in the contiguous United States, the Pacific Northwest is the only one without coastal radar, Mass said. Yet the area sometimes experiences weather as intense as a hurricane — and the region's dense forests, vulnerable to toppling by strong winds, can intensify the severity of the impact.

The $2 million appropriation, which Mass says is largely due to work by Sen. Maria Cantwell, is part of the $410 billion federal omnibus spending bill, which contained 7,991 earmarks totaling $5.5 billion — pet projects that usually benefit one state or congressional district.

But few local weather experts would brand coastal radar as unneeded pork.

The appropriation will pay for half the $4 million cost, and $1 million to $2 million also may be needed for land and installation. Mass says he's been told by top federal officials that more money will quickly follow, and he thinks the radar could be in place in another year.

The Weather Service has seen a steady increase in the number of people watching the weather.

The local Weather Service office recently signed up its 1,300th Western Washington Skywarn weather spotter — volunteer observers who report significant storms, wind, heavy rain, dense fog and poor visibility.

The official Seattle weather station at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport recorded 23.5 inches of snow — tied for the sixth-most snow for the season.

There were two "pineapple express" weather systems that caused flooding, yet the weather was punctuated by long stretches of dry weather.

Interesting weather? Not really, Mass said.

"Most of this winter was really pretty dull."

Katherine Long: 206-464-2219 or klong@seattletimes.com