Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) recently disbanded its High Impact Weather Research section that included radar research. The radar research group was tasked with ensuring that our new $180M national weather radar network reached its full potential, now and in the future. Eliminating dedicated radar research capacity weakens Canada’s ability to fully use and improve one of its most important public weather safety systems. Minister Dabrusin needs to reverse course on this decision.

Canada has had a proud history of pioneering work on weather radar since World War II. Radar research, first by Canada’s military then at McGill University and at ECCC’s King City Radar Research Facility, demonstrated that radars are the forecaster’s best tool for the detection and nowcasting of severe storms and the issuing of severe weather warnings for Canadians. This led to the implementation of the first national weather radar network in Canada by 1997.

The new radar network represents a major technological advancement, offering greatly enhanced capabilities for detecting and characterizing severe weather, as well as expanded geographic coverage. These capabilities position ECCC to make meaningful gains in forecast accuracy and the timeliness and precision of severe weather warnings.

However, hardware alone does not deliver the full public benefit. Ongoing research and knowledge and technical transfer to forecast offices are essential. Cutting-edge algorithms for improved detection and warnings of severe hail, tornadoes, derechos, flash floods and freezing rain are needed to reduce fatalities and injuries, mitigate against property damage, and increase community resilience as our climate changes.

As an example, radar imagery during the violent EF4 tornado near Didsbury, Alberta on Canada Day 2023 is shown above. What should be a clear signal of tornado potential for severe weather forecasters is instead noisy and unhelpful. This is the kind of problem that radar scientists can fix, and need to fix.

Please add your voice in calling for Minister Dabrusin to reverse this decision and ensure that ECCC maintains and enhances its weather radar research function. Doing so will protect the value of Canada’s modernization investment, strengthen severe weather warning capability, and better safeguard Canadians. Your local MP will also be notified.

Dr. Dave Sills, Director - Northern Tornadoes Project
Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory