Dual Pol Radar Coming to MRX

On Monday January 30 2012, The National Weather Service Radar at Morristown TN will be off-line for about 10 days for an upgrade that will allow DUAL POLARIZATION (also known as DUAL POL) radar capabilities on the radar. After construction is completed, the planned date for start-up is Friday February 10th.

During this outage, radars at surrounding sites such as Nashville TN, Hytop AL, Jackson KY, Blackburg VA, Greenville/Spartanburg SC and Atlanta GA can be used for coverage.

The DUAL POL capabilities will include more accurate rainfall total estimation, better delineation between rain, snow, and hail, as well improved diagnostics for severe storm interrogation.



Dual Polarization (or "dual-pol") technology will add an additional 14 products to the suite of data already available to NWS forecasters. These tools will assist forecasters in the warning and forecast process.

Why upgrade to Dual Polarization Radar?

By comparing the power and timing of energy returned to the radar from both horizontal and vertical pulses, we can glean information such as the size, shape, and composition of precipitation particles.

What are the Potential Benefits of Dual-Pol?


Better estimation of total precipitation
Better estimation of the size distribution of hydrometeors
Improved ability to identify areas of heavy rainfall (flash flooding potential)
Improved detection and mitigation of non-weather echoes
Easier identification of the melting layer (helpful for identifying snow levels in higher terrain)
Ability to classify precipitation type
New severe thunderstorm signatures
The full benefit of dual-pol radar, however, will not be fully realized until NWS forecasters and research meteorologists develop real-time expertise.

What is polarization?

A radio wave is a set of oscillating electric and magnetic fields, oriented 90 degrees to each other. Polarization of the wave is the direction, or orientation, of the electric field.

Horizontal Polarization

The electric field is oriented horizontally, along the x-axis (blue). The magnetic field is oriented vertically along the y-axis (white).

The National Weather Service radar at Morristown TN (KMRX) is now upgraded with DUAL POLARIZATION (also known as DUAL POL) radar capabilities. The DUAL POL capabilities include more accurate rainfall total estimation, better delineation between rain, snow, and hail, as well improved diagnostics for severe storm interrogation.