North Alabama TV station WAAY 31 has invested $1.5 million and two years to build what’s billed as “the largest privately held radar network in the entire country.”
The three Doppler radar systems cover all of North Alabama, which the Weather Channel recently ranked #1 in the country for tornadoes, but which has had little in the way of coordinated weather radar. Some areas had no radar coverage.
“This left some communities and neighborhoods without the life-saving information they needed,” said Paul Dughi, vice president and general manager of WAAY-TV.
The system includes radar installations in Muscle Shoals, Guntersville and the Huntsville-Decatur area, so that “WAAY 31 StormTracker Early Warning Radar Network can provide an even earlier warning to storms approaching our area from any direction,” said WAAY 31 Chief Meteorologist Kate McKenna.
EEC, a premier provider of weather radar based in Enterprise, built the systems, with support from IBM and The Weather Company.
The WAAY 31 StormTracker Early Warning Radar Network is sponsored by Conchin, Cole & Jordan, Attorneys at Law.
WAAY-TV is a part of Allen Media Broadcasting LLC, a division of Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios.
