Recent deadly flash floods in Texas, North Carolina and New Mexico have highlighted the importance of early warning systems for extreme weather - and in some cases - how system failures could lead to disaster.

Peachtree City

Recent deadly flash floods in Texas, North Carolina, and New Mexico have highlighted the importance of early warning systems for extreme weather. The US federal government operates over 150 weather radar sites, which are vital for detecting and reporting severe weather to the National Weather Service. However, these sites have become targets for conspiracy theorists who falsely believe radar technology controls the weather. Incidents of vandalism, such as the damaging of a radar in Oklahoma, have prompted concerns about the security and reliability of these life-saving systems. Experts emphasize that weather radar emits energy levels far below safety limits and plays no role in weather modification, but attacks and misinformation could jeopardize public safety by disrupting early warning capabilities.

Why early weather warnings are so important

When a tornado, really any kind of bad weather is headed for your home, the only way you know it's coming is because it shows up on weather radar. The federal government runs at least 150 of these radar sites nationwide. One is likely near you, but it's typically not in the middle of big cities. The one in Atlanta is south of town, peeking out of the suburban treetops. So Keith, there's a reason why we're out here in the woods with the radar site. Yeah, we don't want the radar to interfere with the buildings and a lot of the things that go on in a city. Meteorologist Keith Stelman showed us how the beam scans out 160 miles and reports any trouble in the sky back to his National Weather Service office. The radar and the 80AD technology is probably one of the best revolutionary pieces of equipment that we've had in our history. But recently, the internet has been doing what the internet does. People cooking up weather conspiracy theories. So Rachel, you're kind of in charge of watching over these groups who are doing weird things out there. Correct. Great way to put it. The Southern Poverty Law Center's Rachel Goldwasser has been tracking this kind of chatter a lot more lately. This year, I just happened to look and say, whoa, whoa, whoa. I haven't seen that for years now. Here's one incident she's tracking from this week. Our CBS affiliate in Oklahoma City, KWTV News 9, recorded someone jumping their fence, cracking open a box and damaging the station's own radar. Reporter Elizabeth Fitz then contacted the leader of a group who believes weather radar domes actually control the weather. He admitted to posting a sign near the radar warning it would be targeted. Over the phone, she asked the man if his group is targeting Oklahoma weather radars. Absolutely. I honestly don't know what they're thinking, Dave. We've had this technology dating back to the 50s. So I would guess that this is one of the highest levels of security that you have. Yeah. So what would happen if something got broken or damaged on purpose from here? I mean, we would have to fix it. Obviously, there would be full investigation into what happened. Is there anything coming out of here that controls, changes the weather? Is that something humans can do at all? I mean, all we're doing is sending out a pulse of energy. He tells us by the time the energy pulse gets to anyone down there, it's about the same power as Wi-Fi, thousands of times lower than the FCC's safety limit. Still, several states are now proposing anti-weather modification laws. Legitimate lawmakers making claims like this and actually wanting to take action related to conspiratorial claims, that can only be dangerous for all of us. Again, this is a life-saving technology they don't want anybody messing with because it's here literally for everyone.

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