Cloudy skies dumped rain over Durango on Tuesday morning as La Plata County officials and guests poured into the County Administration Building. With just two hours until the event would move outside, County Manager Chuck Stevens said the weather would clear.
It was fitting that Stevens seemed confident in the prediction.
After years of work and anticipation, the county’s weather radar system is operational.
The indoor event was a work session to discuss the technical capabilities of the system, and the outdoor event was a ribbon-cutting at the site of the radar tower at Durango-La Plata County Airport.
Gone are the days of “nowcasting,” Stevens said, when the National Weather Service in Grand Junction would call county officials and ask “We’re seeing some stuff out there – what’s going on?”
The system, which came online in August and was officially unveiled Tuesday, provides accurate information on incoming weather within about a 150-mile radius of the tower, although the beams can reach up to 400 miles. It will provide forecasts for communities from Alamosa to Cortez.
“Having this tower here means that we are starting to have the real-time information that we need,” said Lorelei Cloud, the vice chairman of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, at the ribbon-cutting. The tower sits within the exterior boundary of the tribe’s reservation.
Nearly six years have elapsed since the project first kicked off, and even more time has passed since the need for radar was first identified.
“Radar coverage remains nearly nonexistent in south-central and Southwestern Colorado rendering real-time detection and warning for severe weather events in this areas difficult,” Stevens said, reading from a 2017 study conducted by Colorado State University.
The turnkey system, purchased from Baron Weather with a 10-year warranty, was funded in part by a $1.7 million grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs and a $500,000 grant from the Department of Transportation. The entire system was projected to cost $2.5 million, but ultimately cost closer to $2.7 million, county spokesman Ted Holteen said.
Forecasts in the region have historically relied on information from a mosaic of radars that left Southwest Colorado in the dark. The closest radar system, located in Grand Junction, cannot see incoming weather in the Four Corners because of the curvature of the earth. Radar shoots in a straight line, meaning that by the time the beam hits Durango, it can only see weather at or above about 28,000 feet.
Over time, information from the county’s new radar tower will be integrated into the National Weather Service’s forecasting models and produce more accurate weather predictions in the region.
But in real time, residents and visitors of the county can observe incoming weather on a widget on La Plata County’s website or by using a mobile device application. The “La Plata County Weather Radar” app is available on the Apple store and will be available for Google users soon.
The ability to see live incoming weather is a convenience for the general populace. But emergency management officials are particularly excited by new technology, which will provide critical information during natural disasters.
“I’m not a meteorologist, but we have now a whole other tool in our toolbox to look at things to help notify the public that something’s happening,” County Director of Emergency Management Shawna Legarza said.
In 2018, it was the flooding and mudslides that swept through the burn scar of the 416 Fire, rather than the flames themselves, that devastated personal property.
“It will rain during your fires, and we have to be as prepared as possible,” Legarza said.
Early detection and notification of impending flooding events or other hazardous weather is the primary reason for the investment, Stevens told the assembled guests and partners of the county.
In addition to direct feeds to the NWS, the county has a powerful terminal computer terminal located at Emergency Operations Center. Select county officials will also have access to ThreatNet, a dashboard from Baron Weather that allows mobile users to interact with more in-depth data and set up alerts for certain hazards in specific areas.
Jeff Givens, the Durango Weather Guy who forecasts local weather, said he was not worried that the new technology would cause his readership to drop.
“I am not worried about my site at all; the more interest in the weather, the better,” Givens said in an email to The Durango Herald.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
