![]() The state of emergency would allow Florida to receive federal assistance and resources in the event of major damage. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday issued a state of emergency for 49 counties as severe weather and tornadoes hammer parts of the state.Ī majority of the dozens of counties under the state of emergency are in North Florida, while none from the Treasure Coast or South Florida are included. ![]() Radar technology under development right now, called “ multi-function phased array,” will provide rapid radar updates without the need for software tricks or sacrificing radar sweeps higher up in storms.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Recent software upgrades allow radars to scan the atmosphere more quickly than ever before, providing low-level updates every minute or so during active weather situations. Legislators have made several attempts to install a radar in central North Carolina the major weather funding bill signed into law in 2017 ordered a study of this issue. Forecasters have missed tornadoes because of the lack of quality radar data over Charlotte and surrounding areas. Charlotte is the largest city in the United States without reliable low-level radar coverage. ![]() The biggest blind spot for radar coverage in the country arguably exists over central North Carolina. Not only is it harder to track storms when a radar dish goes down, but there are already some pretty big gaps in radar coverage across the United States as it is. The radar outage meant meteorologists had a harder time seeing the precipitation near the ground, as nearby radar sites could only see the mid-levels of the thunderstorms over the northern Gulf Coast. The storms dropped more than 11 inches of rain in Mobile and nearly two feet of rain in nearby sections of the Florida peninsula. ![]() NOAA’s radar at the NWS office in Mobile, Alabama, was knocked offline by a lightning strike during intense storms on April 29, 2014. Lightning can take out a radar at inopportune times. Radar dishes are often the tallest things around, and that makes them highly susceptible to dangerous lightning strikes. Hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico’s radar in September 2017 its replacement should be ready in time for 2018’s hurricane season. Hurricane Andrew famously blew the radar dish off the National Hurricane Center’s roof in Miami when it made landfall in August 1992. Hurricanes have taken out several radar sites over the years. There have been many close calls between destructive storms and radar sites over the years. With so many radar sites spread out across so many diverse climates, it’s only a matter of time before the devices become part of the story and get damaged by a storm. A severe thunderstorm punched a hole in the radome-the golfball-shaped casing that protects the radar dish-of a NEXRAD site near Del Rio, Texas, back in 2001. Not only can radar now differentiate between rain, snow, sleet, and hail, but it can also tell forecasters when there’s debris lofted into the air during a tornado. This dual radar beam lets the radar see the size and shape of objects picked up by the radar. Dual-pol, as it’s called, sends out two radar pulses instead of one-one oriented horizontally and another oriented vertically. The latest upgrade occurred this decade with dual-polarization technology. Doppler technology is a crucial part of detecting damaging winds and tornadoes. This allows radars to see the speed and direction of precipitation picked up by the radar, showing the winds within a storm. The most important upgrade occurred in the 1990s with the addition of Doppler technology. Radar has come a long way over the past couple of decades. military bases in Guam, Japan, and South Korea. The remaining radars cover Puerto Rico and the U.S. Seven of those sites cover Alaska’s major cities and four keep an eye over Hawaii. There are 16 NEXRAD sites located outside of the contiguous United States. The lower 48 isn't the only area that benefits from radar coverage. The radar site for Missoula, Montana, is located at an elevation of nearly 8,000 feet on the peak of Point Six Mountain, where it was recently covered in more than 14 feet of snow. Many radar sites along and west of the Rockies are located on the peaks of mountains. This is easy to do in places like Texas or Kansas, where there’s a virtually unobstructed view of the horizon, but it’s a bit harder to accomplish in the mountains. Meteorologists install radar sites in an area that will give them the best view of their surroundings with the fewest obstructions possible. The weather radar on Point Six Mountain, Montana, covered in snow in April 2018.
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