KANSAS CITY, Mo – Imagine being told there's a warning for a tornado, then finding out later it’s not true.
It’s happening in Kansas and in different parts of the country because of wind farms. They’re appearing on Doppler radar like a violent storm or tornado.
They caused a false tornado alert near Dodge City, Kan.
The weather service received a frantic warning in Des Moines, Iowa. It came from an emergency worker who had access to Doppler radar images.
Wind farms are creating green, yellow, orange and red images on Doppler screens that look very much like a tornado or storm. A computer program picked up on the pattern and issued the alert near Dodge City.
A meteorologist quickly called off the alert in Kansas and meteorologists had to calm the emergency worker down in Iowa.
Last year, wind turbines powered more than 6 million homes. A major push toward alternative energy continues to take place, so more false alerts are possible.
The National Weather Service is working to fix the problem by improving technology.
There’s also a push to shut down wind farms when storms move in.
