Saskatchewan residents will be getting an upgrade to their weather reports.

Environment Canada is installing a new, state-of-the-art radar near Radisson to replace aging equipment — the first such upgrade in Canada.

The federal government is spending $83 million over the next few years to upgrade weather radars across the country. Saskatchewan's other weather radar is located at Bethune, and is expected to be replaced in 2019.

Doubles detection range

Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale says the radars in Radisson and Bethune are critical to weather reporting across the region.

"They are very strategically located, not just servicing the people of Saskatchewan but a great portion of Western Canada, as weather systems come off the Rockies and move across the Prairies," the Saskatchewan MP said.

The Government of Canada will be replacing old radars across Canada, which Environment Canada says will give meteorologists better information faster. (Submitted by Government of Canada)

John Paul Cragg, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said the new radar can detect weather conditions and events like tornadoes from up to 240 kilometres away — double the range of the old radars. The extended reach will provide interactive weather maps for areas that previously did not have such coverage.

Cragg also said it will give meteorologists better information faster — critical for certain weather phenomenon like freezing rain, which is hard to forecast and occurs in localized areas.

"As a forecaster, oftentimes we wait for reports or we take a guess, whereas the [new] radar will give us more certainty in those types of forecasts," he said.

Essential to forecasting

CBC Saskatchewan meteorologist Christy Climenhaga said radar is essential to forecasting detailed weather conditions, especially in a province where weather changes quickly.

CBC Saskatchewan meteorologist Christy Climenhaga says radar is essential to creating weather forecasts. (Chris Lane/CBC)

"Radar shows where rain, snow or freezing rain is falling at the current time and its intensity, which helps meteorologists then figure out where storm systems are located and what weather you can expect where you are," she said.

"Radar also helps determine which weather model is providing the most accurate information for future weather conditions. It can give us an idea of a storm's current direction and speed, which helps us edit our forecasts to be more accurate."

Climenhaga said meteorologists use Doppler radar to help predict tornadoes in the summertime and wind shear, or the change in wind direction with height, throughout the year.

'Radar 101'

In its video "Radar 101," Environment Canada explains how the radar system works.

"Each radar sends out pulses of electromagnetic energy, which encounters precipitation targets such as rain droplets, snowflakes and hail," the video says.

"The returned energy from the radar is then processed and turned into a variety of weather products such as the standard color radar image, which depicts precipitation intensity."

The old radar technology transmits and receives pulses only in a horizontal orientation, while the new technology reads both horizontally and vertically, creating a better estimate of the size, shape and variety of particles in the air.

The new radar is expected to be operational by the end of December, the government said in a news release.