ONLY ON 8: Second Action 8 Lifesaver Radar to cover West Alabama dedicated

ONLY ON 8: A dedication ceremony has been held in the Wilcox County town of Pine Hill for Action 8’s new Lifesaver Radar system, the second of it kind in our area.

Today at the city municipal building, local leaders and technical experts came together to celebrate a project that has been nearly three years in the making.

The new Lifesaver Radar is atop a water tower, offering specialized radar coverage that is designed to fix a problem that has been discussed for years.

That problem is the “radar gap” in West Alabama. The area is too far away from existing government radars to get adequate coverage of storms, including tornadoes. That puts lives at risk.

This new Lifesaver Radar is designed to cover lower levels of the atmosphere, with 10 times the resolution of other radars, using the X-Band. The radar in Pine Hill, along with the Lifesaver Radar that was installed last year near the Alabama-Mississippi state line to cover Marengo County and other parts of that area, will be used together and with the government radars to give coverage over the entire area.

Action 8 Chief Meteorologist Shane Butler with a map showing how the two Lifesaver Radar systems will close the radar gap in West Alabama. – Photo from WAKA Action 8 News

These radars will also benefit people living east of that area. That’s because people in Selma, Prattville, Montgomery, Greenville and Troy will get the first look at incoming storms to their west.

It’s technology you can only see on Action 8.

Our parent company, Bahakel Communications, LTD., of Charlotte, North Carolina, made a huge investment to put these radar systems in place. We couldn’t have done it without the support from The Johnny Adams Law Firm, which quickly realized the benefits this new technology will bring.

Watch the video above to learn more about Action 8’s Lifesaver Radar.