Radisson radar down, yet no issues in reporting: Environment Canada

When looking at Environment Canada’s website, there seems to be something missing when it comes to its weather radar in and around the west-central regions.

On Wednesday, Environment Canada told 650 CKOM the Radisson radar has been down, but it’s working to get things back online.

“They’re just getting the part and heading up there to fix it,” meteorologist Terri Lang said. “It’s a broken part … (It) should be up and running probably, by the end of the week.”

Lang says Saskatchewan only has two radars with Environment Canada, with one each located in Bethune and Radisson.

Bethune’s was recently upgraded to increase its range, but Lang says Environment Canada hasn’t had any issues since Radisson’s radar went down.

“It’s annoying, but the network itself is designed to overlap so that if a radar goes down, we can use other radars to cover for it,” she said.

The weather office also has access to a northern Saskatchewan radar, along with some in Alberta and the United States to fall back on, and bridge those gaps.

Localized rainfall hits the Battlefords

Even without the use of the Radisson radar, Environment Canada is still able to see rainfall totals at its weather stations across Saskatchewan.

That includes the Battlefords, which was Saskatchewan’s wettest location Tuesday, according to Lang.

Lang says its local station in North Battleford showed a rainfall total of 123 millimetres, or just under five inches, from 6 a.m. Tuesday to 6 a.m. Wednesday.

The area was also put under a rainfall warning Wednesday morning by Environment Canada.

Lang says the worst is over in the area, with the rain moving into Alberta throughout the afternoon.

Some in the community reported up to seven inches of rain overnight, totals Lang said made sense due to the localized rainfall in Tuesday’s storm.