![]() ![]() “Radar technology for monitoring weather is not new, but having these smaller, deployable, very high-resolution radars, it’s cutting-edge technology,” said Flood Control District Manager Mark Strudley from atop the Sheriff’s Office rooftop Friday. County officials also are hoping the new system will provide a process for identifying wildland fire smoke columns in the offseason, as similar Bay Area radars have done. Inside the sphere is space enough for the X-band radar antenna to spin continuously, emitting microwave radio beams that will bounce back off the raindrops and other atmospheric particles countywide, once power is connected in the coming months. The highly visible fiberglass radome - the name for a protective radar housing - jackets a new more than $500,000 grant-funded rainfall monitoring system operated by the Santa Cruz County Flood Control Division. ![]() The facility is not, as some have playfully speculated on neighborhood social media sites such as Nextdoor, a public art project funded by traffic fines, the bottom ball of a snowman, the ball for an oversized game of pingpong, an outdoor shower ball or the potential canvas for a giant beach ball painting. LIVE OAK - When a nearly 9-foot-tall bright white globe popped up on top of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office building last month, neighbors and Highway 1 commuters alike wondered, “Has that always been there?” Santa Cruz County’s new X-band rainfall-monitoring radar peeks out toward Highway 1 from atop the Sheriff’s Office roof in Live Oak. ![]()
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