By Althea Peterson
The Norman Transcript

When it comes to severe weather, the sooner people know, the better.

That is the aim of the Open Radar Data Acquisition (ORDA) for the NEXRAD Doppler weather radar program, now installed at the National Weather Center, according to an announcement made Wednesday afternoon. John Jones, deputy assistant administrator for weather services, said the change will help future progress in radar, as well as improve the current system.

"We're here to celebrate another key step in the radar pathway," Jones said. "Thank you to everyone who has helped save American lives."

Richard Vogt, director of the Radar Operations Center, said ORDA will allow the existing NEXRAD system to track storms more efficiently, but more importantly will allow future technological developments, including dual polarization and super-resolution.

"It provides us new signal processing capabilities so we can put more sophisticated abilities into radar," Vogt said. "It will make it more sensitive and more accurate."

In short, Vogt said the new technology will increase lead time for forecasts to warn people about approaching and developing storms earlier, allowing them to reach safety sooner.

"It allows us to see smaller features, like precursors to tornadoes," Vogt said. "It's very important to us to see the development of smaller storms."

In the late '80s, the National Weather Service undertook a $4.5 billion modernization restructuring project for 158 NEXRAD radars throughout the United States and some overseas areas. The NEXRAD Product Improvement Program's ORDA was completed Wednesday, but will continue with dual polarization upgrades in 2007, which will lead to better and more developed forecasts, Vogt said.

For the National Weather Center, a new facility that hosted 1,150 guests at its Friday dedication, radar is an important part of its operations, said John Snow, dean of the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences. He said these new developments will benefit the entire weather community.

"Radar is central to what we do and the university has made significant investments in its research and technology," Snow said.