KING CITY, Ont. – Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has completely replaced its operational weather radar network.
Since 2016, the federal government has invested $180.4 million to install 32 state-of-the-art weather radars and one training radar across Canada, an ECCC press release said.
The new network will improve the department's ability to track severe weather events and issue earlier severe weather warnings.
The coverage area of the new radars increased from just over one million square kilometers to over four million square kilometers. In addition to replacing 31 aging radars, a new radar was added to the network in the Lower Athabasca region of Alberta.
A training radar was also added near Egbert, Ontario. It is designed to train radar technicians and engineers, as well as ECCC scientists, to test new hardware and software before using them on other radars. The conventional radar range of the new radar devices has also been extended from 250 kilometers to 330 kilometers.
The first radar was installed in Radisson, Sask. in fall 2017 and the final radar was installed on Halfmoon Peak, B.C., in summer 2023, the release said.