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.

The radar operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and produces volume data every five minutes. Access to raw radar data and data visualizations from the Williams County radar is provided courtesy of the ND Department of Water Resources - Data & Atmospheric Resources Division.

The online radar maps hosted by the DARD are updated every 5 minutes. Four data products are available for visualization:

• Composite Reflectivity (Column Maximum)
  • Basic indicator of precipitation
• Base Reflectivity
  • Basic indicator of precipitation
• Vertically Integrated Liquid (VIL)
  • Can assist with detecting hail
• 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.

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