NEW SYSTEM: WEATHER STATION AT PADUCAH GETS UPGRADE

PADUCAH, Ky. -- Installation of new computers and a high-speed communication system at the National Weather Service station in Paducah this week will cut the time it takes to issue a warning by more than half and will enable the office to provide forecasts for the first time.

The $3.481 million Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System "allows us to look at the atmosphere in a way we never had been able to before," says Rick Shanklin, warning coordination meteorologist at the Paducah station.

"We can integrate data from several sources and integrate it into one system."

Installation of AWIPS is one of the two major leaps forward the NWS office has taken in the last quarter century, Shanklin said. The other major advance was the introduction of NEXRAD Doppler radar system in 1995.

Five new work stations with three monitors each are being installed along with the new high-speed communication system. The office now will receive the majority of its weather model data from Washington and Norman, Okla., via a 12-foot satellite dish.

The Paducah office previously issued only warnings. Forecasts for the area came from St. Louis. By the beginning of the year Paducah will be issuing a five-day forecast for its coverage area.

The Paducah office's coverage includes 11 counties in Southeast Missouri, including Cape Girardeau, Perry, Scott and Bollinger, along with 19 counties in Southern Illinois, 22 counties in Western Kentucky and six counties in Indiana.

Shanklin said the public should see a gradual change in the quality of the forecasts. "There should be a marked improvement in accuracy of the forecasts in time. It is related to the ability to look at much more data and more refined data for the area."

In addition, the new system will enable Paducah to generate a tornado or other kind of warning in from 30 seconds to one minute. In the past it has taken two or three minutes for the warnings to reach broadcasting stations or the computer weather wire.

"This is important considering that we're always preaching that seconds save lives during thunderstorms or tornadoes," Shanklin said.

AWIPS is a substantial leap forward from "the old way of doing things," Shanklin said.

The station just hired three additional employees and will hire three more within the next few months to accommodate the new system. Except for specialized computer personnel, all employees at the station have a minimum of a bachelor's degree in meteorology or atmospheric science.

AWIPS is part of a 10-year, $4.5 billion modernization under way at all 119 NWS offices across the country.

Shanklin doesn't need AWIPS to predict next winter will be colder and snowier than usual in the wake of El Nino. That forecast is based on El Nino's past behavior.