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The huge golf-ball like structure sits right off of Interstate 15 in Cascade County, near the Great Falls International Airport, and it plays a critical role in helping Montanans know what kind of weather to expect: it's the National Weather Service's Doppler radar.

Using electromagnetic energy pulses, the radar puts together a picture of what is happening around it.

Meteorologist Ben Schott of the National Weather Service in Great falls explained, "Doppler radar is named after the Doppler effect, which allows you to get an idea of how fast an object is either moving away from you or towards you."

When Doppler radar was introduced in the 1980's, it was a huge milestone in the field of weather forecasting. Old radar systems from the '50s and '60s could show areas of precipitation, but that was about it.

When the Doppler radar shoots a beam of energy out, it stops and "listens." By listening for the reflection of energy bouncing off of things like rain, snow, dust and even birds, it determines the speed at which objects are moving and the direction they're going.

This information enables meteorologists at the National Weather Service to issue severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings faster than ever before.

There are 164 radars just like this one across the United States; four of them are in Montana.

Schott said, "We have a lot of different scanning procedures that we can do. And, what I mean by scanning procedure is we can dictate how fast the radar turns, and also at what levels that it shoots its beam at. It will always shoot at a standard half degree, and that gives us the lowest scan across the area. But we can do anywhere from maybe eleven or 19 different cuts of the atmosphere to get an idea of what's happening at multiple levels within a storm."

He continued, "There's many advancements that have been made so we can see very small, detailed items that we couldn't see 15-20 years ago, and that is probably the main advantage of the new radar. But, right now, we're actually getting ready to make a leap forward with the Dual Pol technology."

Later this year, the National Weather Service will finish installation of Dual Polarization technology on all the radars in Montana.

Right now, the radar emits a series of oscillating waves in a horizontal orientation; after the upgrade, the radar will emit energy in both horizontal and vertical aspect, and with that comes a number of advantages.

Schott said, "I think one of the biggest things that we'll notice is a higher accuracy when it comes to estimating rainfall amounts. It'll also help with some improved mathematic algorithms that help calculate how big the drop size is, how many drops there are."

Knowing how big the raindrops are will improve the accuracy of rainfall rates.

The Dual Polarization upgrade will also help meteorologists identify areas of icing - crucial knowledge for pilots flying in and out of the area.