There are plans to provide Katherine with better warnings before the town is belted by tree-flattening wind storms.
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The Bureau of Meteorology is holding discussions with the Department of Defence to upgrade to Tindal radar to be able to read wind velocity.
The added doppler radar would allow the bureau to issue the sort of warnings which other populated areas of the Top End already receive.
Katherine has experienced three mighty wind blasts in recent months.
The first, on December 5, cause widespread damage after cyclonic winds produced the biggest gusts recorded across the NT last year.
Trees were down, power was cut, roads were blocked after wind gusts of 132kmh were recorded.
A little more than a month later, on January 30, and then again on February 5, trees and trampolines went flying after storms crashed through Katherine.
Most happen at night, or evening, and sometimes there is a general warning of an impending storm in Katherine, but not always.
Like the rest of the population, the bureau is watching the radar to watch the progress of storm cells which pop up during the wet season.
With doppler radar, places like Darwin and Palmerston, have much better warnings to batten down the hatches.
At the moment, the bureau shares the radar facility at Tindal RAAF Base for all our weather observations.
"The bureau has an ongoing program to develop and improve our observation network, including our radar network," a spokesman said this week.
"The radar at Tindal is part of this program, and we are working with Defence to ensure that the radar services meet their needs into the future."
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