The National Weather Service office in Grand Junction will install a new operating system on Tuesday to improve forecasting capability on Colorado’s Western Slope and in eastern Utah.
“The average person won’t see much difference because the hardware won’t change, only the software,” Jim Pringle, warning coordination meteorologist for the Weather Service, said Friday.
Installation of the new system is scheduled to begin at 6 a.m. Tuesday and run through the day and into the evening, he said.
National Weather Service employees in Salt Lake City will assume backup forecasting responsibilities, he said. But Grand Junction personnel will be on duty.
The new software will improve radar and satellite information meteorologists receive; it will also enhance their ability to prepare warnings and forecasts, Pringle said.
“We’ll be able to see information with higher resolution,” he said.
The Weather Service office in Grand Junction has 15 rotating shift workers and four administrators who spend 25 percent of their time in forecasting.
Pringle said all hands took a week of training on the new system.
The Grand Junction office is open for visits, he said. The launching of a weather balloon at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. at Grand Junction Regional Airport, 2828 Walker Field Drive, could be of interest, he said.
daler@durangoherald.com
