Senate OKs bill that could add Doppler weather radar in Rock Hill, Charlotte region
The U.S. Senate has passed legislation that would open the door for the Charlotte-Rock Hill area to receive a Doppler radar unit – something meteorologists contend would greatly improve forecasting of severe weather in the area.
The legislation, titled the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017, already had been approved by the House, but the Senate added two provisions that the House must OK. After that, the legislation would go to the president for approval.
One of the added provisions would require the National Weather Service to study gaps in the Doppler radar coverage across the country. Several Charlotte-area TV meteorologists have written Congress, contending the 80-mile distance between Charlotte and the nearest Doppler unit – at the National Weather Service office in Greer – is the longest in the country for a major city.
The Greer radar is about 65 miles from Rock Hill.
A pair of North Carolina Republican lawmakers, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger, had pushed the effort to install a Doppler radar unit in the Charlotte area.
Both pointed to a March 2012 EF2 tornado that struck the Reedy Creek area in eastern Mecklenburg County. That tornado was formed from a low-topped severe thunderstorm that was difficult for the Greer radar unit to “see,” according to Charlotte meteorologists Eric Thomas of WBTV and Brad Panovich of WCNC.
In a letter written to Burr in 2015, Thomas said the Doppler radar at Greer is so far away from Charlotte that the center of its beam passes 7,500 feet over the city.
“The average tornado drops from a cloud base no higher than 4,000 feet off the ground, so you can appreciate the profound difficulty here,” Thomas said.
He said National Weather Service meteorologists can detect rotation in a thunderstorm cloud higher in the atmosphere but are forced to guess if a tornado actually has formed.
With a Doppler unit in Charlotte, Thomas and Panovich contend, it will be much easier for meteorologists to detect severe weather in Rock Hill and Charlotte.
Panovich said no other city of Charlotte’s size has a radar more than 58 miles away.
The March 2012 tornado destroyed or damaged more than 40 homes and blew two young children out of their home, several feet away.
“The tornado went undetected and no warning was issued for the victims in the path,” Thomas said.
The government installed a smaller Doppler radar unit several years ago at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, but that radar’s signal is weak and also did not detect the eastern Mecklenburg County twister.
Pittenger last year called the 80-mile radar gap “incredible” and said he was working “every angle” to have a unit added to the Charlotte area.
Some of the other provisions in the weather legislation:
▪ Require the government to buy a backup hurricane “hunter” aircraft for the National Hurricane Center. “While the hurricane season is getting longer, the NOAA plane is getting older,” U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said.
▪ Find a way to issue tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings quicker. That would include a change in the current “watch” and “warning” systems, which many authorities say are confusing to the public.
▪ Conduct an annual report that studies the effectiveness of various computer-based “models” used in forecasting.
According to a recent study, the bill’s total cost would be $350 million over the next four years. Its supporters say weather-related disasters have cost the government more than $1 trillion since 1980.
Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), a co-sponsor of the bill in the House, told the Washington Post that he is confident the Senate additions to the bill would be approved by the House and sent to President Donald Trump for signing.
This story was originally published March 30, 2017 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Senate OKs bill that could add Doppler weather radar in Rock Hill, Charlotte region."