Vermont National Weather Service Office Gets New Radar System

Meteorologists at Vermont's National Weather Service office in South Burlington have a new tool to help improve their forecasts.

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy helped inaugurate Monday the upgraded, dual polarization Doppler radar serving the region.

Officials say the upgrade to the so-called dual-pol system is the most significant enhancement ever made to the nation's radar network since Doppler radar was first installed in the early 1990s.

The upgrade includes software and a hardware attachment to the radar dish allowing it to send and receive both horizontal and vertical pulses

The technology provides a more informative two-dimensional picture about the size and shape of the objects detected. It gives meteorologists the ability to determine whether the radar is measuring rain, snow, hail or birds.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.