 There is a new sentry on the front lines of Northwest Fort Worth. This soldier stands silently watching over the gently rolling terrain, ready to give warning if one of the greatest forces known to man approaches. The collaborative adaptive sensing of the atmosphere unit, known as CASA radar, gazes out for 25 miles to provide early warning of potentially life-threatening weather conditions. Unlike the larger long-distance NEXRAD radar units operated by the National Weather Service that can reach out 150 to 200 miles and scan the middle and upper levels of a storm, this refrigerator-sized radar unit provides a short-range, very detailed image of what is happening in lower levels of our atmosphere. CASA scans low in the sky where tornadoes can form along with strong winds and heavy rainfall that impact Fort Worth residents and sends back high-resolution images five to ten times clearer than conventional radar images. This will allow meteorologists with the National Weather Service and Fort Worth Public Safety personnel to make more precise forecasts and observations of flash floods, ice storms, hail, snow, strong straight-line winds and tornadoes. The benefit is the overlap. When you start overlapping the coverage of these radars then you're able to see the front, the back and the sides of the storms and you're able to aggregate that information that gives you better data, better wind models that you're able to see more precisely exactly what's happening. Ultimately what we are trying to do here is improve the quality of the data so that we can make better decisions so that we can then as we make these better decisions be able to save lives and protect property. Beginning collaboration with other overlapping CASA radar sites in the Fort Worth Dallas Metroplex, meteorologists and public safety personnel will be able to precisely track storm threats down to local neighborhoods. Here's the tornado itself, just about that wide so it's only about a neighborhood wide at that point. The CASA radar can measure heavy rainfall and snow across the entire city giving accurate advanced warning to authorities who will be able to close streets in areas prone to flash flooding or treat roadways for snow and ice before the storm arrives. The CASA radar also relays information much faster sending fresh data every 60 seconds compared to the five-minute scan by NEXRAD. Quicker, more precise information will allow the National Weather Service to issue tornado and flash flood warnings earlier. Severe weather is no stranger to to the city of Fort Worth and the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex we can have in any time of the year and that's why events like this and systems behind my shoulder are so incredibly important to help us make warning decisions to get warnings out faster to get warnings out that are much smaller in time and space more specific for folks. Years of planning and testing went into the creation of the CASA radar umbrella. The unique design and capabilities to sample events in the near-surface atmosphere were developed over a 10-year period by engineers and scientists at the Engineering Research Center for collaborative adaptive sensing of the atmosphere. The University of Massachusetts Amherst, Colorado State University, University of Oklahoma, University of Puerto Rican Maywez, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and University of Delaware along with private technology companies combined efforts to create this ultra-modern technology. After a four-year field test in rural Oklahoma Fort Worth Dallas was chosen as an excellent area to demonstrate the radar's benefits in an urban setting. We've been working on this project for a number of years. This project is basically the collaboration and the result of many of our member governments coming together and being able to pull this technology and infrastructure and information here for our region. This is an example of a regional project where if everybody pitches in a little bit we'll be able to get so much further than we would individually. The emergency management coordinators that fire and police, emergency responders, and others will be able to use this information to make life-saving decisions, move people in property, better warnings, better notifications, and after a storm know exactly what happened and where to look. There are currently a total of six COSR radar sites situated across the Metroplex. They are located in Fort Worth, the University of Texas Arlington, Cleburne, Midlothian, Addison, and the University of North Texas Denton. Mesquite on the east side of Dallas County will be the home to the next radar site to be constructed in spring 2016. The $500,000 radars have been brought to this region through a unique partnership between participating universities and private sector radar manufacturers with installation, operations, and maintenance funding coming from national and local public-private partnerships. We have several communities and several counties that are working with us in this effort and we are also hopeful that as we establish these radars there will be a additional partnership from the private sector where we believe there is a great economic benefit to them in participating in this type of effort because they would help them make better decisions in their business. The unit sitting on an empty windswept field once occupied by a 1920 style water tower is the sixth and newest unit out of an anticipated 16 to 20 units which will be installed to cover the North Central Texas Council of Government 16 county area. The Fort Worth radar will become operational in early 2016. This project fits in well with Fort Worth's mission to provide a safe city for all residents and of course it's true to the mission of our emergency management operations. The installation of the radar has been a city-wide effort. Surveys were drawn, plans were submitted, permits were issued, and holes were dug. Five foot deep concrete pads were poured to exacting GPS specifications to hold the three-legged 50 foot tall tower which will support the radar. The radar tower assigned to Fort Worth and its support building were donated to the project and were disassembled in Oklahoma and transported to a holding facility in Fort Worth. After the concrete pads are cured heavy equipment is brought to the location to reassemble the tower. A large crane slowly raises and swings the support building into place. The tower is slowly hoisted into position and gently and precisely placed on the concrete pads. A few days later engineers move the radar dome of fiberglass enclosure used to protect the revolving radar unit while it sits atop the tower. While the large dome only weighs about 200 pounds the radar itself is much heavier and fragile. It takes several men to lift the radar unit and move it safely into place inside the dome. Once the radar unit is secured and wired the dome is ready to be lifted to the top of its tower. The radar dome sits atop its tower and is secured. This is the only region in the country that has a network of radars that are working with the National Weather Service so that we can improve the quality of data that is being used in our weather models and they're also being used to make decisions to save lives and property. There is nothing like this in the country. Fort Worth citizens and all residents of North Central Texas will be more at ease knowing that severe weather threats will be detected earlier and with greater precision in the future. The National Weather Service will be able to issue hazardous weather warnings whether for a tornado, a flash flood, or an ice storm with greater confidence for specific areas. The benefits of this low-angled radar will be shown for many years to come, enabling the City of Fort Worth Office of Emergency Management to provide localized warnings and take safety actions using up-to-the-minute severe weather information provided by CASA radar.