Weather Forecasting

Radar Availability Requirement Not Being Met Gao ID: AIMD-95-132 May 31, 1995

Doppler radar systems are enabling weather forecasters to better see the makeup and the movement of weather and to quickly warn the public about severe storms, such as tornadoes. The National Weather Service is collaborating with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Air Force in acquiring Doppler radar technology. This $1.4 billion radar project, known as the Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD), will establish a constellation of radars to increase the accuracy, the timeliness, and the credibility of hazardous weather warnings. This report discusses (1) the NEXRAD units that were dropped from the original deployment plan and the reasons why they were dropped, (2) the feasibility and the estimated cost of extending the NEXRAD contract to buy additional radars, (3) the Air Force NEXRAD's contribution to the national NEXRAD network and the accessibility of the Air Force NEXRAD data to civilian forecasters, and (4) the availability of the Air Force and National Weather Service NEXRADs.

GAO found that: (1) the three agencies reduced their original deployment plan from 175 radars to 163 radars because of changes in agency requirements, funding limitations, and military base closures; (2) the National Research Council (NRC) is studying the adequacy of proposed NEXRAD coverage; (3) NWS and the Air Force plan to deploy their radars by the end of fiscal year (FY) 1996, but FAA plans to delay deploying five of its radars until at least FY 1997 because of budget constraints; (4) because the option for purchasing additional radars is unpriced and subject to negotiation, additional NEXRAD could cost three times more than units under contract; (5) NWS has unrestricted access to Air Force NEXRAD, which provide essential backup, primary, and supplemental radar coverage; (6) all three agencies signed an agreement to operate all NEXRAD to satisfy the integrated needs of all three agencies; (7) Air Force radar availability data, which may be unreliable and overstated, indicate that some of its radars are performing below the tri-agency system availability requirements; and (8) NWS does not calculate operational availability for each NEXRAD site and it does not know if sites are meeting availability requirements.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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