Canadian weather radar network

Canadian weather radar network
Location of the weather radars in Canada.
Country of originCanada
Manufacturervarious
No. built33
TypeS bands

The Canadian weather radar network consists of 33 weather radars spanning Canada's most populated regions. Their primary purpose is the early detection of precipitation, its motion and the threat it poses to life and property.

Each had until 2018 a range of 256 km (159 mi) in radius around the site to detect reflectivity, 3 angles with a range of 128 km (80 mi), for detecting velocity pattern (Doppler effect), and an extra long range up to 240 km (150 mi) at low elevation angle but strongly folded or aliased (where the maximum unambiguous velocity interval (±Vmax) is less than the full range of velocities being measured which leads to some being displayed with the wrong values[1]).

The renewal of the network, from 2018 to 2023, with new S-Band radars brings these numbers respectively to 300 km (190 mi) for reflectivity and 240 km (150 mi) for full Doppler coverage.[2] Furthermore, the new radars are dual-polarized which means precipitation type can be estimated directly. Starting in June 2021, some of the radars' ranges will be extended to 400 km (250 mi) in the lowest angle of reflectivity data.[3] The range extensions are intended to provide forecasters at the Meteorological Service of Canada, part of Environment and Climate Change Canada, with radar information while nearby radars are being replaced as part of the renewal.[4] Starting on 29 June 2022, a pilot project allowed external users access to the raw data, possibly including the 400 km data.[5]

  1. ^ "Maximum unambiguous velocity". Glossary. American Meteorological Society. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Selex was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Meteorological Service of Canada (June 3, 2021). "General Notice (GENOT) announcing 400km range" (in French and English). Government of Canada. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
  4. ^ Canada, Environment and Climate Change (2014-07-03). "Radar outages and maintenance". www.canada.ca. Archived from the original on 2021-09-10. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  5. ^ Edouard, Sandrine (2022-06-29). "Projet pilote de dissémination de données radar sur HPFX // Radar data dissemination pilot project on HPFX" (in French and English). Archived from the original on 2023-04-18.