PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Doppler radar that state leaders hoped would be key part of a multi-million-dollar dust storm warning system will soon be a thing of the past.
The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) announced Monday that it will be decommissioning the X-Band Doppler Radar site located on the side of Interstate 10 near Eloy — a critical blind spot between the two existing National Weather Service Radars in Phoenix and Tucson. Those radars have difficulty detecting low-altitude dust storms and other weather phenomena in the Picacho Peak area.
Arizona’s Family Investigates first reported in 2024 how the radar installed by ADOT and hailed as a “gamechanger” was not sending data from ADOT to the National Weather Service (NWS), which issues weather alerts. We also learned that while the dust detection Doppler radar was sitting idle, the state was still paying thousands to maintain the radar…