DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Doppler radar that tracks snow, rain and thunderstorms for the Quad Cities region is back up and running after crews removed the dome last week to make necessary upgrades, the National Weather Service confirmed Thursday on social media.
Crews removed the golf ball-looking dome off of the KDVN-88D radar last Thursday, April 21, to start upgrading the pedestal that the radar sits and spins on.
According to StormTrack 8's Andrew Stutzke, this was the most time-consuming step in upgrading the radar. The upgrades were estimated to take up to two weeks to complete but finished a week ahead of schedule.
Rich Kinney with the NWS told News 8 via email that "everything went as planned" during the upgrading process.
"There is one additional step, which involves refurbishing equipment shelters at the radar site," said Kinney. "This does not involve any electrical or mechanical work. Essentially, the major aspects of the project have been completed."
Watch the timelapse of the dome removal on News 8's YouTube channel
The upgrading process for the radar has four different phases. The last phase is refurbishing the shelter. According to Kinney, the NWS does not have a timeframe for completing that last step.
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