Jonathan Erdman and Jonathan Belles
Hurricane Laura destroyed a National Weather Service radar in Lake Charles, Louisiana, early Thursday morning, just one example of the widespread damage from the Category 4 hurricane.
Live Storms Media storm chaser Brett Adair documented the damage to the Doppler radar at the NWS office at the Lake Charles Regional Airport.
Adair's photo showed the white radome, an enclosure resembling a large golf ball meant to protect the radar's antenna, was largely blown away, along with the radar's dish. These radomes, made of reinforced fiberglass, are typically built to withstand Category 4 winds.
The radar's last image was transmitted around 12:53 a.m. CDT, as the northern eyewall of Hurricane Laura was beginning to lash the radar site.
Video shot by Adair later in the day showed various mangled antennas, satellite dishes and weather instruments, but suggested little damage to the solidly constructed NWS office itself. Airport hangars at Lake Charles Regional Airport were heavily damaged.
A wind gust to 133 mph was measured by the automated wind instrument at the airport a little less than an hour after the radar transmitted its last image.
Given the danger from Laura, the NWS-Lake Charles office was abandoned, with backup support provided by other NWS offices, including Brownsville, Texas.
The NEXRAD Radar Operations Center, a NOAA division in charge of maintaining the nation's NWS Doppler radars, said in a tweet Thursday they're putting together a team to investigate the damage to the radar and begin efforts to restoration efforts.
It could take months for this radar to be rebuilt. In the meantime, the NWS will rely on nearby Doppler radars, such as in Houston, Shreveport and near New Orleans, to scan areas normally covered by the Lake Charles radar.
Maria Deja Vu
Almost three years ago, another NWS Doppler radar was destroyed as Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico.
Maria was also a Category 4 hurricane when it roared ashore in Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, 2017. Since the radar was located in the mountains of eastern Puerto Rico at an elevation of 2,800 feet above sea level, it's possible it could have battled even stronger winds before giving way.
The radar was rebuilt by the following summer.
There have been other weather radars recently damaged by severe weather.
Super Typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda) made one of the world's strongest landfalls near Guiuan in the Philippines in 2013. In the process of this landfall, the Guiuan radar was sheared off its pedestal. It took more than two years to restore this radar and reinforce it.
Destruction of the Guiuan radar in the Philippines during Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). Left image is a simulation of what the radar should look like.On Dec. 19, 2008, wind gusts up to 140 mph near Reno, Nevada, punctured the dome of the NWS radar. Just six days later, a Christmas Day wind event with gusts up to 95 mph obliterated the rest of the radome and damaged the radar dish.
The radome in Reno, Nevada was punctured by extremely violent winds in 2008.According to the NEXRAD Radar Operations Center, only five out of 159 NEXRAD radars have sustained major damage in over 25 years of operation.
One of the EF5 tornadoes in the April 27, 2011, super outbreak took out Huntsville, Alabama, NBC affiliate WAFF-TV's radar in a very similar manner to what we saw in Louisiana, with estimated winds of at least 200 mph.
That radar was replaced later in 2011.
The radome and radar from WAFF-TV were gone from the tower, and the nearby Bethel Church of Christ was destroyed on April 27, 2011.The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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