Weather Radar

The Williams County Real-time Weather Radar is located at the Williston Basin International Airport (XWA) and provides radar coverage for northwestern North Dakota.

Construction of the radar was completed in October 2019 and is fully operational as of March 2020; information became available to the public in April 2020. The project was funded by revenue from Williams County’s 1% Public Safety Sales Tax.

Visualization of real-time weather radar data is provided by the North Dakota Atmospheric Resource Board. The radar operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the radar maps are updated every 5 minutes.

Four data products are available for visualization: Composite Reflectivity (Column Maximum), Base Reflectivity, Vertically Integrated Liquid (VIL), and Velocity. The Reflectivity products are the basic indicators of precipitation. Wondering what the colors mean? Click here for an explanation from the National Weather Service.

Raw volume data in the NEXRAD L2 data format is hosted and available for download by the Atmospheric Resource Board. The configuration file and the GIS file for reading the data into GR Analyst are also provided for download.

Location: Williston Basin International Airport (XWA)

Radar type: C-band, simultaneous dual-polarization Defender C350, manufactured by Enterprise Electronics Corporation (EEC)

Tower: 60 foot steel tower constructed by Allstate Tower; tower engineering by Strata

Utility work: Completed by Triangle Electric, Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative (MWEC), and Northwest Communications Co-Op

Site engineering and support: Ulteig

Williams County owns and operates the radar, but does not, and will not, provide weather data interpretation, weather forecasts, or issue weather warnings. For weather interpretation and forecast information, please visit the National Weather Service or your favorite weather website.