
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 28, 1994                    TAG: 9406280324 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A6    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940628                                 LENGTH: Short

STORM GIVES RADAR SYSTEM A BIG WORKOUT

{LEAD} A newly installed super Nexrad storm radar at the Morehead City, N.C., National Weather Service facility got its first major workout Monday as a powerful storm system moved slowly across eastern North Carolina and into Virginia.

``Just about all of today's tornado and other severe-weather warnings originated from information we obtained with the new WSR-88-D radar here,'' said Tom Kriehn, meteorologist in charge of the Morehead City office.

{REST} The 88-D radars operating in Morehead City and Raleigh are two of four that eventually will bring better hurricane and tornado forecasting to Virginia and North Carolina. Another North Carolina installation will be built at Wilmington, N.C., and a fourth 88-D Nexrad is now being completed at Wakefield, Va..

The super Doppler radar spots funnel clouds as they develop and it can accurately track a hurricane's eye. A tornado creates a characteristic hooklike pattern on the radar screen, Kriehn said.

``We really got a workout today,'' said Richard Thacker, a meteorologist who monitored the new 88-D while the storm system battered the mid-Atlantic coast. The radar's beam can detail storm development and movement up to 250 miles away, Thacker said.

by CNB