Currently, there are only four weather radars in Michigan. Some weather conditions are outside of radar coverage. A private company is in the process of installing more radars in Michigan to fill the gaps.
Your favorite weather information is probably looking at the current radar. These images can help you see if rain, severe storms, and snow are coming your way. Occasionally, you may notice that the radar doesn’t show the bad weather outside.
This is because weather radars have their limitations. There is a usable distance that the radar beam can travel from the radar location. As a general rule, I claim that weather is detectable within 120 miles of the radar location. There are two very important exceptions to this 120-mile capability – tornadoes and, you guessed it, lake effect snow.
The reason for the limitations in radar is that the radar beam exits the radar at an upward angle of half a degree. That may not sound like a large angle, but the result adds up over many miles. If a radar beam is 60 miles from the radar, the majority of the beam is 4,500 feet high. If the radar beam is 120 miles from the radar, it is over 12,000 feet high in the atmosphere.
The diagram shows a radar beam rising higher into the sky at greater distances from the radar. Important weather events such as tornadoes can go undetected under the radar beam (Source: Climavision)Climate vision
Tornado rotations usually occur in the lower layers of the atmosphere. Rotations can be less than 4,500 feet. This means that a tornado can go undetected by radar 60 miles or more away.
The Climavision image shows a tornado on the radar in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that was not detected by a more distant National Weather Service radar.Climate vision
Lake effect snow in Michigan is even more elusive. The tops of lake effect snow clouds can be less than 4,500 feet high. That’s why you often don’t see snow on radar, but a look out the window tells a very different, insidious story.
Sounds like Michigan has a radar coverage problem, doesn’t it?
A company called Climavision is currently installing between 180 and 200 new radars across the country and hopes to complete the installations in the next three to four years. Climavision has already installed 27 radars, most of them in the severe thunderstorm belt of the southern United States.
Blue circles show where 27 Climavision radars will already be installed by June 2024Climate vision
Chris Goode, founder and CEO of Climavision, says additional radars in Michigan are the next priority. While exact locations have not been determined, Goode hints that three radars in Michigan will be added to its radar network.
A radar will be stationed near Toledo, Ohio, and will give us a good view of severe thunderstorms in extreme southeast Michigan.
A second radar is planned for the Saginaw/Bay City/Midland area. This radar will fill the gap in radar coverage on the east-central side of Lower Michigan. Currently, there is a large gap in severe weather detection in the Tri-Cities area. This region is quite far from all three National Weather Service radars near Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Gaylord. Lake effect snow in Michigan’s Thumb rarely shows up on radar.
The final radar currently planned for Michigan will cover another important hidden lake effect snow area in northwestern Lower Michigan. A radar in the Frankfort or Leelanau County area would provide great visibility of the lake effect snow from Pentwater, Ludington and Manistee north to Cadillac, Frankfort, Leelanau County and the Traverse City area. This is a classic location where the radar beams from Gaylord and Grand Rapids are higher than the low-lying lake effect snow. Driving can be very dangerous while the radar looks unimpressive.
Climavision’s radars are not connected to the National Weather Service’s Doppler radar network. However, Goode explains that an agreement has been reached that gives the National Weather Service access to the Climavision radar network. This will help NWS meteorologists issue more accurate tornado warnings and other severe weather alerts.
Goode tells me there are three types of radars: C-band, S-band, and X-band. The NWS Doppler radars are S-band radars. The Climavision radars are X-band radars. The X-band radars don’t see quite as far as the NWS radars, but they have ten times the resolution of a NWS Doppler radar.
Climavision’s main reason for installing these radars nationwide is the increasing frequency of severe weather events.
Goode explains that Climavision often mounts its radars on a water tower. A water tower is a good option because it already has the existing tower, safety measures and backup power.
Interestingly, Goode said the pandemic has caused the existing NWS Doppler radar network to have larger gaps in coverage. The NWS Doppler radar network was established in the late 1980s with sites in major population centers. The pandemic and work-from-home policies caused many to move to more rural areas not covered by the decades-old NWS radar network.
By combining the radar data from both networks, the accuracy of weather forecasts is to be further increased.
A large part of Climavision’s market is the energy market. Energy sources such as wind and solar are directly dependent on the weather. The insurance industry is also an important customer for Climavision.
Radar images show what is happening now and what has happened. This current data is fed into weather forecast models to improve the accuracy of the models. Climavision runs its own weather models but hopes to import its data into some of the National Weather Service’s high-resolution models as well.
As a meteorologist, I am very pleased to be able to more accurately identify the lake effect snow in the heaviest snow belt in northwestern Lower Michigan.
These additional radars and inputs into the modeling will be a great thing for us Michiganders. You will be less likely to be caught in a lake effect snowstorm or one of those fast moving tornadoes in rural Michigan.
