Near the regional National Weather Service office in Gray there's a Doppler radar tower standing partially hidden among the trees. The tower was built 50 feet lower than standard weather radar towers and now, due to tree growth, it can't properly detect weather intensity at lower levels — the 'tier 1' level.
Meteorologist Donny Dumont said the regional office in Gray has been waiting for years for the issue to be fixed, and in that time, has found workarounds.
"We're not going to miss a flash flood warning due to this fact, we do want to get it fixed, because we it would give us better data, more accurate data, but overall, we can do our job. We have been doing our job"
In the wake of deadly flash flooding in Texas this week that took over 120 lives, there is renewed attention focused on Maine's emergency warning systems and flash flood preparedness.
Dumont said partial blockages are a common issue with weather radar — he cites Vermont's Green Mountains as a nearby example of this type of bloackage — and said that's why there's a network of radar towers available for meteorologists to piece together a bigger picture.
Raising the structure is estimated to cost $7 million — and it's unlikely that the tower height will be increased before 2027.