Wind Farms Interfering with Doppler Weather Radar
Wind farms near Altoona, Pennsylvania causing interference (false echoes) to KCCX, a United States NEXRAD (WSR-88D) S-band Doppler weather radar station in State College, Pennsylvania. #Shorts
Although central Pennsylvania is fairly mountainous and severe tornadoes are rare here, wind farms could be a greater issue in more tornado-prone areas.
I'm not saying we shouldn't build more wind farms; they are very important for reducing our dependence on fossil fuels! However, this is an example of an unforeseen consequence of clean energy. As with any engineering problem, compromises need to be made and technology, on both the hardware and software sides, can be improved.
App: MyRadar with Per-station radar upgrade (Available on App Store, Google Play, and Microsoft Store)
Map Imagery from OpenStreetMap
NEXRAD Radar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEXRAD
-RESOURCES FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE-
How Radar Works: https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/how
Interpreting Reflectivity: https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/refl
Interpreting Velocity: https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/vel
Wind Turbine Image in Thumbnail (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) is from Highland North Wind Farm in Cambria County, PA. Photo taken by Wikipedia user "Wolfpoint". Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
-VIDEO CHAPTERS-
0:00 Base Reflectivity
0:05 Composite Reflectivity
0:14 Velocity
0:21 Vertically Integrated Liquid
-ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS-
Wind power
Wind energy
Onshore wind
Offshore wind
Wind turbine
Wind turbines
Renewable power
Renewable energy
Electricity generation
Power grid
False reflection
False reflections
False echo
False echoes
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