page_title: Langley Hill Doppler radar
section_title: Technology
hierarchical_section_title: Langley Hill Doppler radar / Technology
caption_attribution_description: English: One of the first reflectivity images created using the Langley Hill NEXRAD weather radar, during system calibration and testing
context_page_description: 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 [is] 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.
context_section_description: 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.
caption: One of the system's first images during checkout in August, 2011. Salish Sea and Vancouver Island near top of frame; entire Washington coast inside inner circle; central Oregon coast near bottom.
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