The red symbols are radars that are currently out of service. KDDC (Dodge City) and KICT (Wichita) are the NWS's radars. They have been out since 5:45 this morning. TICH (FAA weather radar) has been out of service the past few days.  The problem is per the 3pm outlook from the NWS Storm Prediction Center, there is a small risk of small risk of severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and large hail (dark green) in areas those radars are supposed to cover.  Thundersrtorms are likely  across their storm warning coverage areas tonight. The NWS says there is the potential for as much as 4" of rain in a small part of Kansas.  These radars are essential for storm warnings, emergency management, water management, and agriculture...not to mention aviation.  The radars fail at ever-increasing rates yet the NWS is not planning to field replacements until 2040 .  We desperately  need a NWS and NOAA with a sense of urgency and a National Disaster Review Board to h...

One of the reasons weather science is not respected for its amazing accomplishments is because many are invisible. We may have had a big success earlier this evening.  A thunderstorm developed near St. Louis' Lambert International Airport (KSTL for weather and aviation purposes) about 5:30 and drifted slowly south. It produced a series of downbursts -- which are highly dangerous to aircraft when landing and departing.  Here's the success story: Nothing happened! In 1973, a downburst caused the crash of an Ozark Airlines flight as it was on final approach to Lambert . There were 38 people killed. There was no system for warning pilots of these dangers.  Two weeks ago, we commemorated the 40th anniversary of the awful crash of Delta Flight 191 at Dallas-Ft. Worth on August 2, 1985 . The crash killed 137 with 20+ more injuries. Some of those injuries were horrific. The NTSB determined that the crew flew into the thunderstorm, knowing it was a thunderstorm (both FAA and Delt...

Weather radar controversy continues in the Queen City. While I have no objections to Charlotte getting additional radar coverage, the story is misleading. It says there is "no National Weather Service (NWS) radar" which is technically correct. It goes on to say, After  dangerous winds killed 37 people and injured 20 others in a Charlotte plane crash in 1994 , Charlotte Douglas International Airport was awarded a "terminal doppler radar." "TCLT," as it's known, is in northwest Charlotte and monitors the weather surrounding the airport. The radar is operated by the  Federal Aviation Administration  and not the National Weather Service.  While helpful for localized weather, a terminal radar is smaller and produces less imagery than its WSR-88D counterpart. The above is way  off. The radar can show storms more than 120 miles away. See below (Charlotte is at far left). The FAA's Charlotte TDWR (TCLT) routinely produces a new image every 60 seconds, whi...