Canada's weather forecasters are getting upgraded tools for helping to predict severe or unusual weather activity.
The government has signed a contract with a manufacturer to buy 20 new radar installations to replace existing equipment at locations across the country. The contract also contains an option for establishing up to 14 additional radars at other locations over the next six years.
The fist new radar will be installed this fall, but Environment and Climate Change Canada has not announced yet whether the department's radar facility located north of Thunder Bay, or a unit near Dryden, are among the sites that will receive the upgraded equipment.
There are currently 31 radars in the national network.
Minister Catherine McKenna, who made the announcement last week, said the investment will "modernize Canada's weather-service infrastructure and make sure our meteorologists can provide the fastest and most accurate weather forecasts."
Last year the government also awarded a contract to design a state-of-the-art, high-performance supercomputer that will be used in conjunction with the radar stations to create "cutting-edge" weather and climate models.
The government says the new radar units will be equipped to help forecasters better distinguish between rain, snow, hail and freezing rain, and to detect tornadoes more easily. They will be more capable of discerning the size, shape and variety of precipitation particles, resulting in more precise and timely weather watches and warnings.
The new equipment will have extended range capability, doubling the current Doppler radar reach to 240 kilometres.
