Under The Radar

Hi, my name is Scott, Director for WxAnalyst LTD in Satellite Beach, FL. We are in the business of siting weather radars, and we have tools to clarify the so-called gaps in radar coverage. These gaps affect the detection of tornados, especially the smaller F1 and F2 events which may go undetected or unwarned “under the radar”. The gaps also affect quantitative precipitation estimates (QPE), which is a known issue in QPE algorithms. We are re-analyzing the nation's radar network to clearly identify the location and height of gaps in radar coverage. Our last analysis in 2008 addressed blockage by terrain and is freely available online. Since then our techniques and the terrain databases have vastly improved.

We looked into government funding. According to NOAA (2020) there are a few gaps and filling them will not improve watches/warnings. So there is "nothing to see here, move along..."

We looked for industry support and there is significant interest. However, product ownership becomes an issue. You know what they say... "it's just business."

This analysis needs to be public and freely available. The funds will be used entirely for labor to crunch the data, produce the products, and publish the results.