WELLINGTON, Fla. — A low-level radar blind spot stretching across Palm Beach County and southern Martin County could delay life-saving weather alerts, according to experts.
Maps from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show upper- and mid-level radar coverage is strong across Florida and most of the country. But low-level radar — critical for detecting tornadoes and flash flooding near the ground — has significant gaps, with one of the largest sitting directly over Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.
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"We have a significant radar gap," said Jason Hallstrom, executive director of Florida Atlantic University's Sensing Institute.
Tara Goode, vice president of radar operations at Climavision, a weather technology company working to close coverage gaps, said the consequences are real for people in the region.
"Specifically where you are in Palm Beach County, in that area, there's a lot of people that we would consider vulnerable to pop-up storms, flash floods, tornadoes that don't have warnings," Goode said.
Goode explained that radar works in layers. Upper-level radar scans 10,000 feet and above, tracking storm structure. Mid-level radar covers around 6,000 feet. Low-level radar, near 3,000 feet, is the most critical tier for spotting flash flooding and tornadoes — and the one with the most gaps.
Former National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Lamar said new research shows tornadoes are forming closer to the ground, making low-level radar more important than ever.
"As you go farther away from those radars, you're not seeing the lower level of the atmosphere," Lamar said. "So therefore we're not going to see some of the tornadoes that may be spinning up in the lower levels of the atmosphere, some of the waterspouts that may come inland from the Gulf and actually do damage."
The stakes became clear on Oct. 9, 2024, when 126 tornado warnings were issued and at least 45 tornadoes struck southeast Florida. Just 12 hours later, Hurricane Milton slammed the state, with flash flooding inundating Florida's west coast.
A WPTV investigation found two failures during Milton: emergency alerts that dozens of residents in western Palm Beach County said were never sent to their phones, and tornado warnings issued minutes too late in southern Martin County. Both areas fall inside the low-level radar gap.
"When you have gaps, it takes longer for the underlying models to understand what is going to happen in those areas," Hallstrom said.
Climavision is working to deploy mobile radar trucks to address the problem. The company is aiming to place one unit in the middle of Palm Beach County and one in Lee County on the west coast of Florida, with each providing coverage for the surrounding 60 miles.
"The radar that we're bringing will fill that whole void — it'll fill that full South Florida gap," Goode said.
Hallstrom said the addition could make a meaningful difference.
"I absolutely do," Hallstrom said, when asked whether the new radar could improve forecasting time.
But experts are clear that mobile radar trucks alone are not a complete solution.
"Is it enough? Absolutely not," Hallstrom said.
"I think it is a start. I think Florida needs many more than just four of these X-band weather radars across the area," added Lamar.
NOAA has so far declined to answer questions about the radars; however, in a March news release, the agency announced a new mobile radar fleet but did not specify where the trucks would be deployed.
Goode said the goal is to have them up and running by summer.
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