The City of Boonville in Cooper County announced that its partner, Climavision, a climate-tech data pioneer, has nearly completed installing a new weather radar system on their water tower, which will supplement weather coverage in between neighboring NEXRAD S-Band radars. Because of regional topography and the nature of weather radar technology, gaps can exist between systems as the radar beam moves higher in the atmosphere the further it gets from the radar location. This leaves some areas, such as Cooper County, exposed to weather phenomena that often happen in the lower atmosphere such as flash flooding, high winds, ice, and tornadoes.

The dual-polarization, X-Band weather radar is designed specifically to fill these small gaps to provide the highest resolution view of what’s happening nearest to the ground. While all warnings and notices will continue to come through official National Weather Service channels, the system will provide critical visibility enabling forecasters and emergency officials to better plan, prepare, and respond to volatile weather situations.

“We are very excited to be working with Climavision on this project. This radar adds another tool to our toolbox. It will assist personnel with the Cooper County Emergency Management Agency with warning our citizens of life-threatening weather conditions. This will give us a radar image of what is happening in the lower atmosphere in the central Missouri area. Currently the radar that we see from the National Weather Service is at around 7000 feet by the time it reaches Cooper County. We work closely with the NWS and let them know what we are seeing here in Cooper County.” Said Larry Oerly, Director Cooper County EMA

Climavision’s X-Band weather radar is a proprietary high-resolution, solid state, system manufactured in the United States. It is safe and licensed by the FCC. As the first system to go live in the state, Cooper County expects the system to be operational within 4-6 weeks with EMA and government officials receiving access to the real-time data. Climavision plans to install nearly 200 supplemental weather radars across the country to comprehensively address low-level weather gaps.