Behold the new weather radar

Jivrashia said :

LSWCHP said :

that this sh!t is really f*cking hard

…For a moment there I thought you were sharing with us how happy you were.
Difficult, is what you mean, yeah?

If the word “Difficult” was engraved in letters one micron high across every square centimetre of the Australian landmass, it would not go anywhere near expressing one thousandth of one percent of the degree of difficulty that is involved in producing an effective Doppler radar.

If you think I’m exaggerating, go spend the next 30 years of your life studying calculus, linear algebra, trigonometry, quantum mechanics, digital circuit design, RF circuit design, antenna design, radio frequency signal propagation, computational complexity, algorithmic analysis, Fourier analysis, computer architecture, digital communications, large scale software engineering, safety engineering, risk analysis, mechanical engineering, finite element analysis, thermal modelling, project management, technical team leadership, government contracting and perhaps a few other things.

Once you have a profound and intuitive understanding of Every Single One of those subjects and lots more, you will have reached a point where you might consider starting work on building a radar. If you’re really smart though, you won’t, because you’ll realise it’s too bloody hard, you don’t have the intellectual firepower to pull it off, and you’ll go get a job at McDonalds.

Of course, even given all that, radar work is trivial compared to what the sonar guys endure. Anybody who works on sonars is mad.

grump said :

it’s been working too hard – down for maintenance already!!!

That weird rain stuff broke it.

it’s been working too hard – down for maintenance already!!!

LSWCHP said :

that this sh!t is really f*cking hard

…For a moment there I thought you were sharing with us how happy you were.
Difficult, is what you mean, yeah?

Whew, I though I missed something. This is an old news story just telling me what I already knew from another N.S.W counterpart sponsored by an electricity supplier [say no more]. They actually show lightning strikes as well. Who cares about doppler radar, it always goes from west to east anyway.

Ahhh, doppler wind. Such a useful tool for storm spotters – you can pick a cell even before BoM release their warnings.

Nice to see quality weather tech in ACT, thanks!

Jethro said :

dungfungus said :

Seems to be permanent storm activity exactly over the location of wind farms to our North.
What incredible technology; they not only generate electricity but also rain.

Don’t worry. The luddites soon to be in power have made it their policy to put as much red tape up as possible to destroy the renewable energy industry.

After-all, we wouldn’t want to risk replacing environmentally damaging non-renewable energy with sustainable energy.

I think you’ll find *all* the 3 major parties have a Luddite attitude to energy technologies. The Greens being the worst.

breda said :

Thanks, jb.

Never mind the forecasts, I just look at the maps and radar and the barometer and draw my own conclusions.

The radar is very handy when severe storms are about. Skywatchers find it useful as well.

+1 – it’s good to be able to follow the direction of storms and make a reasonable guess about whether and when they are likely to hit our little part of the world.

dungfungus said :

Seems to be permanent storm activity exactly over the location of wind farms to our North.
What incredible technology; they not only generate electricity but also rain.

Don’t worry. The luddites soon to be in power have made it their policy to put as much red tape up as possible to destroy the renewable energy industry.

After-all, we wouldn’t want to risk replacing environmentally damaging non-renewable energy with sustainable energy.

dungfungus said :

Seems to be permanent storm activity exactly over the location of wind farms to our North.
What incredible technology; they not only generate electricity but also rain.

I just wrotea long and tedious rant about this at http://region.com.au/the-weather-radar-revealed/73428/comment-page-2#comment-482720 which I won’t repeat, beyond continuing to maintain my assertion that this sh!t is really f*cking hard, and the doppler radar folks are doing their very best under difficult circumstances.

If you’re confused by the radar picture, then don’t go there. Just look out your window or something.

Seems to be permanent storm activity exactly over the location of wind farms to our North.
What incredible technology; they not only generate electricity but also rain.

Thanks, jb.

Never mind the forecasts, I just look at the maps and radar and the barometer and draw my own conclusions.

The radar is very handy when severe storms are about. Skywatchers find it useful as well.