It’s not every day that we get a news release datelined “Toppenish, WA” so you’re going to hear about it.*

Gulfstream IV (Photo: NOAA)

Very quickly in the story, though, we leave Toppenish for more exotic climes, as NOAA has tasked a high-altitude, twin-engine Gulfstream IV-SP jet to patrol the North Pacific Ocean this winter, and watch for winter storms developing there that will hit the continent (i.e., us) later on.

From now until February, the plane will be stationed at Yokota Air Force Base in Japan, then in March move to Honolulu. While aloft, it will “collect information such as wind speed and direction, pressure, temperature and humidity,” which, fed by satellite to forecasting centers, should help modeling software develop more precise outcomes.

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, who is chair of the Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard Subcommittee, draws your attention to the benefit to Washington state:

Especially during this wet La Niña winter season, more accurate data on storms gathering off our coast is critical to our safety and livelihoods. Washington state is at the frontline of dangerous storms, and this plane’s high-tech capabilities will provide important supplemental data about any dangers approaching us. This winter season, residents, businesses and property are better protected with the help of this plane, which significantly improves forecasting of winter storms.

NOAA’s plane makes a nifty temporary seat-filler for the new coastal radar system that Cantwell has been working on getting installed:

She secured full funding for this radar system through a $2 million down payment in the 2009 omnibus appropriations bill, and $7 million included in the 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act. In June of last year, Cantwell announced that Washington state’s first coastal Doppler radar will be deployed in September 2011–a year earlier than originally anticipated.

UW meteorologist Cliff Mass will likely be dancing a jig at the news. Seriously, if he knows the steps, I can easily picture him breaking into dance. In advance of our last storm, he began a post thusly: “I really wish I had the coastal radar right now, it would have been a huge help to determine exactly what is going on and what will happen over the next few hours. September we will have it.”

*Otherwise, my only assocation with Toppenish is from The Farming Game, in which you could be Toppenish Tom.