The Hartford Courant reports residents who live near WFSB‘s planned Doppler radar site fear the weather tracking system could be bad for their health.
The station wants to move its Doppler radar to Avon Mountain. An attorney for WFSB told The Courant WFSB has to move its current Doppler site because the building that houses it will be torn down in the fall.
According to a report from WFSB, the Doppler radar emits an electromagnetic radiation that is regulated by the federal government because of its potential impact on people’s health. That is what has residents worried, said Glenn Dowd, who lives near where the radar system would go
Advertisement“It won’t help anyone’s health and it will have a clear impact on property values,” Dowd said. “I’m concerned but pretty much anyone in the near vicinity should be concerned too. WFSB was asked at the hearing how often systems like this are plopped down in the middle of a fairly densely developed residential area and they didn’t have an answer.”
But WFSB insists that the Doppler radar will not hurt anyone. The station gave the commission a consultant’s report saying the amount of radiation from the radar would be within the limits set by the federal government.
“At ground level, it is almost undetectable,” Hollister said.
Avon Mountain housed the station’s Doppler radar from 1972 until it moved to its current site in 1995.