Baron Weather, Inc. the world leader in critical weather intelligence, has been chosen by La Plata County, in Colorado, to provide a new weather radar system and construct the accompanying 70-foot radar tower at the Durango-La Plata County Airport. The new system, a C-band Dual Polarization Weather Radar with turnkey installation and a Baron radar display and analysis system, is expected to provide residents of the Four Corners, in La Plata County, with far more accurate weather forecasts.
“La Plata County conducted an extensive search process for our new weather radar system and selected Baron based on their professional reputation,” said La Plata’s County Manager, Chuck Stevens. “We have been extremely impressed by their level of service and technical solutions and we have complete confidence in their ability to complete the project on time and on budget.”
The Four Corners, mostly rural, is part of the high Colorado Plateau. The area experiences numerous weather systems, organizing on the plateau and then proceeding eastward through Colorado and into the central U.S. Unfortunately, because of the earth’s curvature and obstruction due to the mountains, the closest radar, in Grand Junction, isn’t able to accurately detect precipitation in the region.
According to Jon Tarleton, Baron Vice President of Integrated Weather Systems, the radar is filling a hole in the National Weather Service’s (NWS) coverage of radars across the U.S. “The La Plata County radar will have the same capabilities that the NWS radars are equipped with,” he said. “They have really chosen the best option for their community.
More accurate detection of precipitation by the radar will lead to important forecast improvements in the region for winter weather, flooding, thunderstorms, etc. Residents will be able to prepare better before particularly nasty weather arrives. The La Plata county radar should also improve weather forecasting by any meteorologist using the data, especially in the short term, one-to-four hours. Other benefits for the county include improved ability by emergency management crews to plan for critical, weather-related emergencies, assist in the emergency management department’s operations planning, provide higher quality inputs for hydrologic modeling and the improvement of water management, and help the Department of Transportation’s snow removal, airport snow removal, and avalanche forecasting, etc.
