Here's why your local weather forecasts just got more accurate

If you have ever taken the gondola or the Comet chair up to the summit at SilverStar, you may have noticed the giant soccer ball.

This large structure is our local Environment Canada weather radar that covers most of the BC Southern Interior.

The term RADAR is an acronym for Radio Detection and Ranging. It works by sending out pulses of microwave energy and then it listens to see if any of those pulses bounce back off of objects in the atmosphere like snow flakes, rain or hail.

Duane and I use radar to get a glimpse of what is happening right now weather-wise by seeing where the precipitation is falling currently, as well as to see how the winds are behaving in the atmosphere.

Environment Canada has been working on modernizing the country’s radar network for the past few years and our local radar was included in the list of upgrades which involve three main elements.

The station has expanded its doppler range to 240 kilometres from 120. It can see more detail about winds and rotating clouds to allow for better forecasting, especially when it comes to thunderstorms.

Also, the dual-polarization shoots vertical and horizontal beams which helps determine the precipitation type a lot better, whether its a raindrop, snowflake or hailstone.

The third and final upgrade is it scans every six minutes compared to every ten minutes so that gives a very clear and quicker picture.

Did you know you have access to radar data? You can download Environment Canada’s WeatherCan app to take a look.