Operational Experiences with the Finnish Weather Radar Network

Summary

The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), which is the government agency responsible for providing meteorological services in Finland, has been operating digital radar systems for the last four years. At the present time three radars operate continouously, making three-dimensional data-collection scans every half hour, and automatically processing the data to a radar-centred xyz format. Two of the radars are unattended and remotely-controlled. The primary users of the data are duty meteorologists working at three regional meteorological offices. The complete data sets are relayed to the central office of the FMI in Helsinki, where selected products are made for inclusion in the meteorological work-station menu, and for conversion to a polar-stereographic projection, from which a network composite is made. Weather radar images are used in various applications, ranging from the primary use in weather analysis and forecast at the FMI Central and regional forecast offices and their branch offices to use in TV weather presentations. Other uses include road and agricultural weather services employing videotex-type display systems. Future developments include a greater emphasis on precipitation-orientated services, such as the provision of optimised real-time intensity and cumulative total values, as well as short-term forecasts. For these applications a more frequent data-collection schedule will be essential, involving improved computing facilities and some rearrangement of priorities. Improvements in general forecasting for the 0 – 6 hour period are expected to follow when data from the Nordic Network of weather radars becomes available. The usefulness of radar data from the wider COST area is expected to be seen in a more timely pinpointing of deviations from computer model forecasts, and in the sphere of aviation meteorology, where near real-time radar data should be of immediate interest for flight route forecasting and briefing.