The Boston area has been hit by three winter storms since NBC Boston signed on January 1 - but where has its much touted "Storm Ranger" weather truck been?
The Boston area has been hit by three winter storms since NBC Boston signed on January 1 - but where has its much touted "Storm Ranger" weather truck been?
The first-of-its-kind mobile radar vehicle has been front and center in on-air weather promotions and at station events. It was even in the First Night parade that the station aired live on January 1.
The Storm Ranger features an X-band, dual polarization, Doppler weather radar with a range of 75 miles fixed atop a Dodge Ram truck. This game-changing technology enables meteorologists to position the trucks in locations where they can see around terrain that has previously been unreachable by fixed weather radars.
"This radar technology and mobile configuration is a first for any TV station or network of stations in the U.S," said Richard Stedronsky, a meteorologist and director of strategic business development and partnerships at Enterprise Electronics Corporation. "The NBC and Telemundo owned stations are the first to deploy a fleet of mobile Doppler radars in the nation."
The Storm Ranger’s high-resolution and narrow-pulse radars also have the capability to scan storms at the lowest atmospheric layers, allowing meteorologists to determine the exact location of a storm, including its strength, its speed and where it’s headed. The Storm Ranger will also be better able to detect snow, light rain, hail, and particles in the atmosphere, as well as tornado debris fields and smoke.
“The radar beam from a fixed radar is too high in the atmosphere to see lower weather phenomena, but that’s where severe weather takes place – in the lowest parts of the atmosphere. With StormRanger, you can take your viewers to the weather and gather information that a traditional fixed radar could be missing,” added Stedronsky.
But why hasn't this advanced weather tool been used during any of the storms that have hit Boston?
The answer to that is three fold.
We talked to a meteorologist in the NBC stations group and asked about the general use of the Storm Ranger.
Shared Weather Tool
First, the Storm Ranger is not exclusive to NBC Boston, the logo affixed to the side of the truck is a magnet. NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations owns three of these units, and they are shared amongst all of their owned stations. The unit that NBC Boston shares is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at WCAU - this truck is shared among all of the NBC stations along the East Coast (WNBC, WRC, WCAU, WBTS, and WVIT). A mid-west unit is based at KXAS in Dallas, Texas and shared with WMAQ in Chicago, Illinois. The third unit is based at KNBC in Los Angeles, California, and shared with KNTV in San Francisco and KNSD in San Diego.
Bigger stations generally have priority over the others in getting use of the truck, so in terms of market size NBC Boston is fourth out of fifth in that list. Each station has to provide operators for the truck, so it takes a lot of manpower, and the driver must have a special clearance to drive the vehicle, not just a commercial drivers license.
Adverse New England Terrain
As high tech as the technology in the Storm Ranger is, it has its limits - namely terrain. The truck beams out to a distance of 75 miles, but it needs a clear line of sight. The radar raises to a height of about 12 feet, so there are not too many spots in the Boston area that the truck can park and provide effective data. The does not need a clear range of 75 miles in order to operate, but it needs a decent unobstructed range in order to provide any useful data. While the radar might be able to provide excellent scans in Texas, the terrain in New England is not very friendly to that.
Mechanical Issues
We're also told that the Storm Ranger has also faced maintenance issues, and has spent a lot of time in the shop being worked on.
So while the Storm Ranger might be an incredibly useful tool, at this point its more of a promotional gimmick than anything.
