Stick with life-saving tools

Kansas City Star: The National Weather Service should reverse its decision to save $4.15 million next year by shutting down its effective wind profiler system.
The collection of 35 ground-based wind-measurement devices has proved especially useful here in Tornado Alley, helping to forecast the kind of deadly tornadic weather the Kansas City area experienced in May.
A study after that outbreak showed the profilers were essential in forecasting what was coming. Without the profilers, the study said, tornadoes would have killed more than the 40 people who died as tornadoes slammed into several states.
Once installed, wind profilers don't need to be staffed. They send Doppler radar signals into the air to measure wind direction and speed at various levels and radio their results to a central collection point. They also can detect dust and other debris in the air.
Weather balloons
The profilers give readings every six minutes, a vast improvement on the weather balloons the National Weather Service sends up every 12 hours. The balloons still are needed, but the two systems together make forecasting much more precise. The profilers cost $20 million when they went into operation in 1992.
Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, both Republicans, say they are working to make sure the profilers remain in service. Other members of Congress -- especially from the Midwest -- should join them so weather forecasters can have the best possible equipment available to protect people from severe storms.