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BROOME COUNTY, N.Y. -- Forecasters at the National Weather Service in Binghamton have a new tool to help them predict the weather. The office is undergoing an upgrade to their Doppler radar system this week.

The new tool is called 'dual polarization' and allows meteorologists to measure the horizontal and vertical dimensions of objects such as rain and hail droplets. The existing Doppler radar only allows horizontal measurements. Forecasters said the new technology will improve their ability to predict rainfall accumulations and severe storms.

"Flood forecasting should be good because one thing that we rely on for our radar is to give us estimates of how much rain has fallen, of course that’s very important for the flooding potential for a storm, so if we get better estimates then we should get better making forecasts and warnings," said meteorologist Mike Evans.

The National Weather Service expects the upgrade to be completed by next week.