TYLER, Texas — Henderson is about 60 miles from the National Weather Service (NWS) radar in Shreveport, but the Rusk County city is right in the middle of a debate.
Does East Texas need its own doppler radar?
According to Rusk County Office of Emergency Management Coordinator and Fire Marshal Patrick Dooley, the answer is "yes."
“Yes, most definitely need one in this area.” Dooley said as he sat at his desk recalling 2015 Memorial Day tornado that ripped through the heart of Henderson. “So when the tornado came through here in 2015, I had one of my guys, Michael Searcy, sitting over by the airport here. All I remember was him coming on the radio, saying 'tornado,' and the next thing you know it was coming through town. [It] gets all the way to other side of the county and our Code Red went off after the fact."
There was no tornado warning until after the EF-2 twister banged up more than 300 homes and businesses in Rusk County. Luckily no one was killed, but Dooley says that storm proved there’s a radar gap in East Texas.
“We’re not trying to put anyone down or their equipment," Dooley said. "We’re trying to do this as a safety measure for our citizens.”
Congressman Nathaniel Moran, who serves Texas' 1st District, agrees.
“We have a gap here and it’s hurting us," Moran said.
It's why Moran is pushing for East Texas to have its own radar. and it's why he’s introduced the Rural Weather Systems Monitoring Act.
"What this bill specifically does is say look within four months of passing this bill, you, the federal government must actually do a study to address these gaps in radar systems around the nation," said Moran during a sit-down interview with CBS19.
Moran is referring to a map from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The map shows 34 holes where Next Generation Radars (NEXRAD) have limitations. That includes many areas here in East Texas.
While discussing the gap, Moran mentioned a study on the impact of increasing the lead time of tornado warnings by just five minutes.
“If we can fill that five-minute gap, the prediction is that we will reduce injury by 47%," Moran said. "Those are telling statistics that say minute-by-minute we can save lives.”
NEXRAD are the backbone of severe weather coverage.
Originally commissioned in the 1990s, the weather service upgraded the radar systems in 2013 for better detection.
NWS meteorologist Brad Bryant explained the sophisticated process.
“So the shape of the wave as it goes out," Bryant said. "That energy packet may have a different shape coming back, depending on the target it’s hitting and which way the targets moving."
The size, shape and movement is how meteorologists know if the precipitation is rain or snow, or if there is rotation within a thunderstorm.
NEXRAD can detect rain, snow or ice 200 miles away. But that far out, the level of detail drops and that’s where the radar gap develops. But what causes the gap?
Here’s the issue.
The radar beam leaves the radar site at the NWS in Shreveport and begins to travel. When that beam, traveling mostly straight, arrives in East Texas, because of curvature of the earth, it can be shooting as high as three-thousand feet above the surface in Henderson. In western Smith County, it can be as high as 6,000 ft. and in southern Cherokee County, as high as 8,000 ft. That means some severe weather is too far away for radars in Shreveport and Fort Worth to see. Anything close to the ground can slip under the radar. And that’s what Moran’s legislation aims to eliminate.
“We need a system here in between that fills in the gap," insisted Moran.
The NOAA stops short of calling it a "radar gap" but acknowledges, “there are some areas of East Texas with NEXRAD coverage higher than 6,000 ft. above ground level."
“To improve low-level coverage, a low elevation angle was added to Shreveport NEXRAD in 2019," Jessica Shultz, deputy director of NOAA’s radar operations, said. “Even if the beam is 3,000-8,000 ft. or higher above ground, radar is just one tool forecasters use to issue timely and accurate warnings.”
In Durant, Oklahoma, there use to be another radar gap. Durant sits 105 miles from Norman and 112 miles from Fort Worth. The lowest elevation radar sees here is almost 12,000 ft.
“This area of southeast Oklahoma is in a big gap," said Richard Ezell, Durant's Director of Emergency Management and Safety.
A deadly tornado hit the tiny town of Blue the same day Henderson got hit in 2015. Ezell says the tornado went unnoticed for many minutes.
“It was not indicated by radar, actually our spotter on the ground was able to see the tornado and we were able to relay that information to the National Weather Service to then get a warning issued," Ezell said.
The deadly twister prompted Oklahoma budget $1.5 million to build a gap-filler radar just outside Durant. It doesn’t have as much power as a NEXRAD, but will detect storms up to 85 miles away.
“So having this radar available will help emergency management notify the public much faster, sooner if something such as a tornado is expected in this area”, said Durant Public Information Officer Rebecca Carroll.
"And not only does is serve southern Oklahoma but North Texas is benefitting from this also," Ezell said.
Back in Texas, we may have to settle for a gap-filler radar as NOAA says no more NEXRADs are available for installation. NOAA will be evaluating supplemental radar from the private sector between now and April 2024.
But, Moran says any radar is better than none.
“Whether or not it’s NEXRAD, a temporary gap-filler, whether or not it’s Next Generation NEXRAD, we want to continue to push for life and safety," Moran said.
But East Texas residents have a long wait ahead of them considering Durant’s radar journey took more than a decade.
Let’s hope it doesn’t take a tragedy to speed up the timeline.