Weather service concerned over impact of Nebraska wind farm on radar

http://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/weather-service-concerned-over-impact-of-nebraska-wind-farm-on/article_962114d3-788f-50dc-bb05-e25267873d8a.html

POSTED: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014 12:30 AM

By Nancy Gaarder / World-Herald staff writer

A commercial wind farm proposed for south-central Nebraska would interfere with a National Weather Service radar station more than any other in the nation.

Dozens of turbines, each standing nearly 20 stories tall, would be built 2½ miles to 7 miles from the radar station at Blue Hill that serves south-central Nebraska and north-central Kansas.




Wind towers are mammoth pieces of industrial equipment: A turbine blade has a wingspan greater than that of a 747 airplane, and the tip can spin at speeds in excess of 140 mph.

For the most part, wind farms are a nuisance to forecasters, but this would be the first time in Tornado Alley that a wind farm would be built this close to weather a radar station.

FULL story at link.

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