Millions across the Carolinas are impacted by the weather radar gap
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — “I’m coming in,” sighed Jonathan Nazeer.
Their small farm stand in Rock Hill is no longer Jonathan’s favorite place to be, even though he’s spent the last two years pouring his dreams and heart into the building.
“I don’t like walking in right now, I’ll be honest we have limited the amount of time we come here because it’s a little, it’s heartbreaking,” said Jonathan, the co-founder of Victory Gardens International.
His non-profit sits on the South side of Rock Hill. The area has long been overlooked, despite being a historic African American Community. Victory Gardens has been around for two years, providing fresh produce to people living in the area as well as gardens.
However, mold is the only thing growing at their farm store. Their refrigerators are now broken and the community garden beds are empty.
Their greenhouse is riddled with holes from hail that tore through it on April 20, 2024.
“This storm was so strategic in where it hit,” said Jonathan.
“You could see in that storm, it was just ice,” said Steve Wilkinson.
House passes bill to close Charlotte weather radar gap
Steve is the meteorologist in charge at the Greenville-Spartanburg National Weather Service office in Greer, South Carolina. He watched that storm hit Rock Hill from his computer screen. He could tell, it was going to be a big one.
“So much ice,” remembered Steve.
Their main forecasting tool towers over their small office. It’s a ‘WSR-88D Doppler Radar.’ It’s a fancy name for the most advanced form of weather radar. However, it can’t catch everything, especially the further away the weather is.
One example of that is the tornado that hit Claremont, North Carolina on January 9, 2024.
“There was a tiny little cell that had a brief little hook on it for one scan. The last rotation (happened) and it was gone,” remembered Steve.
The EF-1 tornado that touched down in Claremont injured four people and one person was killed. The tornado moved so fast and it all developed on the ground.
“We call it Monday morning quarterback, and you can go there it is, but at the time it was not obvious,” said Steve.
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Ideally, the WSR-88D Doppler Radars are within 70 miles of communities and cities. However, the radar in Greer is 90 miles away from the Charlotte metro. This means millions of people fall into a radar gap.
“It’s always been critical, but it’s even more critical the more people you pack in tighter areas,” said Steve.
The way radar works is the further you get away from it, the harder it is to see what happens on the ground. In the Carolinas, tornadoes and other damaging storms form at ground level.
“Charlotte is the largest city in the country that’s in a weather radar gap. I didn’t know that until I was elected to Congress,” said Congressman Jeff Jackson.
‘Endangering millions’: NC congressman introduces bill to close Charlotte weather radar gap
Jackson is hoping to close the gap by pushing for the ‘Weather Act Reauthorization’ bill. The bill would do a lot of things, including setting aside money to improve radar technology and put Charlotte at the top of the list for the newest radar whenever it’s developed and released.
“It would create much more accuracy, much more predictability,” said Jackson. “The issue is that Doppler radar is kind of obsolete at this point, so it’s really about getting Charlotte first in line for the next generation,” said Jackson.
In May, the bill flew through the House. Jackson said it looks like it’ll pass the Senate and hopefully be on the President’s desk by the end of summer.
“Right now, we don’t have a new roof on so we’re still under tarps. I don’t think I’ve looked at the news so much before in my life,” said Jonathan.
The mold dotting the walls of their store continues to spread. Jonathan knows they need to fix it but that will cost thousands of dollars.
“I don’t want to let this community down and I think so many of them have come to depend on us,” said Jonathan.
While their store sits, the students in their summer program plow on. They’re creating a garden in the back, hoping that more than just plants will grow, before severe weather strikes again.
“I just felt a drop,” said Jonathan, looking up at the sky.
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NWS officials said, they use different tools to forecast for the Charlotte area and are able to do so despite the gap. Charlotte Douglas International has a radar that they’re able to access, though it’s not the WSR-88D radar that is their primary source of information.
While there’s a lot of hope the bill will be passed by the end of summer, the newest radar technology is around ten years away.
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