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II I I I I I r I I I I C. WEATHER SURVEILLANCE - VISUAL AND RADAR After making the morning forecast, a visual watch and radar watch followed. Periodic updates were made using media broadcasts showing satellite and other radar data. In order to reduce hail effectively. it 1s extremely important to be able to quickly identify potentially severe cloud development and to begin seeding them as soon as possible in their life cycle. Recognition of benign clouds as opposed to potentially destructive clouds require considerable experience and expertise. As a general rule, WKWM pilots and meteorologists are able to visually distinguish between the two types of clc)Uds. Flights are often launched on a visual basis because cloud droplets in rapidly growing clouds are not large enough to be "seen" by radar until relatively late in their life cycle, WKWM personnel unde~stand this important concept well and are highly vigilant in watching the skies for incipient severe storms as well as being able to deploy rapidly when required. Radar becomes an indispensable tool in the identification and tracking of severe storms once formed, Groundwater District #1 owns the 5-centimeter wavelength weather radar system currently used on the WKWM Program. It is similar to many used by the National Weather Service. Its normal operational mode is on a 100 n.m, range and bas both a range-height indicator <RHI) for cloud height measurements and a plan-position indicator <PHI) for horizontal viewing, Incorporated into the system is an aircraft interrogator/transponder flight tracking system. Additional radar specifications and interrogator/transponder specifications are found in Appendices E and F, respectively. During operational periods various information 'tfas entered ~nual1y into our computer 50 that comments and calculations could be recorded quickly. The information obtained included: (i) storm position relative to the radar site (2) cloud height (3) maximum intensity (4) height of the maximum 45 dBZ level (5) 45 dBZ height above--nr below a computed hail threshold (6) cloud height (7) cloud height above or below tropopause Data were also lagged on separate forms during program operations, Acetate overlays of storm location were hand-drawn at 20 minute intervals for hai 1 suppression and at 20 to 30 minute intervals for rainfall augmentation. On the overlays were drawn all radar echoes, the primary storm intensity centers and the location of all seeding aircraft, These overlays were later photocopied and 15