Holyrood Weather Radar Station

Weather is a common subject of conversation worldwide but in some places, it takes on high importance more regularly than others, the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland is one of those places.

In 2016 Environment Canada decided it was time to replace all the various weather reporting radar stations coast to coast with 33 new stations, all of identical design. The standardization of the stations simplified maintenance and trouble shooting. The new stations quadrupled the range of the stations they replaced, quadrupling the area covered with detailed weather monitoring from 350,000 to over 1,500,000 square miles. This story is about one of the last radar stations installed. Canada is situated on a vast and often inhospitable territory. On a bluff on the Avalon Peninsula, surrounded by the stormy North Atlantic Ocean on all sides a new radar station needed to be built. It needed to weather the short-term challenges of extreme weather events, gale force winds, extremes of temperature and heavy ice build up. For this the well-known advantages of cost-effective and strong structural steel made it the obvious choice. Another important challenge was the long term one, corrosion. How to ensure that the steel structure will provide many decades of maintenance-free service at a competitive up-front cost? The surrounding seas and the weather extremes will soak this structure in salt laced water in all forms, gases, liquids and solids, day in and day out. The clear choice? Hot-Dip Galvanizing! The Hot-Dip advantages are manifold: low initial cost, superior service life, zero maintenance for decades, exceptional impact resistance, factory-controlled quality, inherently no hidden defects, rapid processing and real-life experience proven for over a century and a half. The rugged durability of Hot-Dip made transport and erection stress-free. This also facilitated easy installation of the radar equipment to the steel structure. Once in operation Environment Canada can focus on the radar itself and rest easy that the supporting structure will provide silent service for the life of the equipment and beyond. Further benefits include the fact that the Hot-Dip coating is pure zinc, a benign and even beneficial element. This contrasts significantly with alternatives like treated lumber or paint systems that can, over time contaminate the site with dangerous chemicals. So, now out on that bluff on the very eastern extremity of North America everyone from airline pilots to motorists to farmers can depend on accurate and dependable weather reporting. With the inherent benefits of Hot-Dip Galvanizing they can count on that vital information for decades to come regardless of what mother nature throws at that radar station.