Live Doppler 9000

WASHINGTON (WUSA) -- W*USA 9 introduced the Metro Area's first Live Doppler Radar in 1988 and we have been tracking severe storms live through your neighborhoods ever since. Technology has moved forward in the last two decades and so have we.

Live Doppler 9000 has over 350,000 watts of power & covers over 70,000 square miles. Our main advantage is showing you the storm's movement live as it happens. Other radar images shown on other stations may be up to six minutes old. That's the difference of three to five miles in fast moving thunderstorms. This means Live Doppler 9000 can track damaging storms from the mountains all the way to the coast Live with the same 6 minute advantage. When we show you a storm over your neighborhood or town that is where the storm is at that time and not where it was six minutes ago.

Live Doppler 9000 sends out a signal that bounces off precipitation. When the signal returns, we know how heavy the rain is in a given storm and even if hail is present. One advantage of Doppler radar, however, is the ability to know if a raindrop is being driven at a high rate of speed. This information tells our meteorologists if the storm has damaging winds or even a tornado. Our new Live Doppler 9000 can even look inside the storm dissecting its winds, movement and rainfall. Live Doppler 9000 will show you if the storm contains hail and will even let you know the exact time the storm will hit your neighborhood.

Severe thunderstorms & tornados are nothing new for the Metro Area in the Spring and Summer. From the Flag Day storm in 1989 to the Frostburg tornado in 1998 to the September, 2001 College Park tornado. 9WEATHER NOW is committed to bringing you the most accurate and up to the minute coverage of severe weather. Protecting your family and keeping you informed has always been and will continue to be our top priority.

We could have placed our radar in a remote location by itself, but we chose instead to locate it on the grounds of the University of Maryland. Through a unique partnership with the university, graduate students and meteorology professors will have access to all of our Doppler radar data.

In a sense then, W*USA 9 will help train and educate the next generation of Doppler Radar meteorologists and hopefully increase the warning time of severe weather events.

Live Doppler 9000 is just more proof of the commitment 9NEWS NOW has to our customers and their communities. Quite simply, there is no stronger live Doppler radar in the Metro area and no team of meteorologists more committed to keeping you informed.