Wind Farms Are Having A Surprising Impact On Weather Radars – Here's Why That Matters

Wind Farms Are Having A Surprising Impact On Weather Radars – Here's Why That Matters

How do wind turbines trick weather radar systems into seeing fake storms and missing real tornadoes? Explore the surprising impact on forecasts.

How wind turbines affect weather radar – seeing storms that aren’t there and missing tornados

On December 1, 2018, at around 6:30 p.m., an EF-1 tornado had formed near Maroa, Illinois, but despite its advanced Doppler radar equipment, the National Weather Service (NWS) located in the area failed to detect any indication of rotation from the supercell thunderstorm to warn residents. Fortunately, storm chasers on the ground witnessed the tornado, and meteorologists were able to issue a tornado warning 20 minutes before the storm hit the to…