Langley Hill Doppler radar
The Langley Hill Doppler radar is a National Weather Service NEXRAD Doppler weather radar station on the Pacific coast of Washington State, in the United States. Prior to its construction, Washington's Olympic Peninsula coast was the only portion of the U.S. coastline without weather radar coverage, and "virtually no radar coverage available over the ocean, where the majority of western Washington's weather originates" according to a Weather Service report to the United States Congress. Its location was announced in early 2011, construction started in March, and the unit was commissioned in September, 2011. A major motivation for the station was early detection of Pacific Northwest windstorms; a proponent, Professor Cliff Mass of the University of Washington, said it would provide an additional 6 to 12 hour storm warning to residents of the Pacific Northwest.Location
The radar dome, the first on Washington's coast, is on a steel tower atop a high hill between Copalis Beach and Copalis Crossing, off State Route 109. Prior to its construction, coastal coverage from the nearest radar at Camano Island on Puget Sound was limited by the Olympic Mountains. This radar and KBHX at the Lost Coast near Eureka, California were the westernmost weather radars in the continental United States as of 2013.Technology
The radar is a NEXRAD WSR‐88D, and was one of the first in the nation to be upgraded to dual polarization capability on September 21, 2011. It is the only operational WSR-88D that scans as low as 0.2 degrees above the horizon, which sometimes causes image artifacts due to sea clutter.
