Swarm of grasshoppers on weather radar was actually reflective material from Nevada air force base, NWS says
Jul 8, 2023, 6:36 PM | Updated: 7:44 pm
The NWS map of the blue cluster moving across Utah. (NWS)
(NWS)
SALT LAKE CITY — What was believed to be a swarm of grasshoppers on weather radar was chaff, according to the U.S. National Weather Service of Salt Lake City, Utah.
On Saturday, the weather service noticed stories about a June 21 weather radar video showing a large blue cluster traveling across Utah’s West Desert.
“After further investigation, we’ve determined that the most likely cause of the signature on (June 21) was chaff originating from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada,” stated the NWS Facebook post.
The NWS said that chaff is a reflective substance that the military can deploy to confuse missile radars, along with weather radars like the ones from the NWS.
“We apologize for the error when we were originally asked about this, as the appearance of insects and chaff can have some similar characteristics, which lead to the error in the original analysis,” stated the post.
On June 30, KSL TV reported on a large swarm of grasshoppers that appeared in Tooele, terrorizing farmers and locals in the area.
You KNOW it's bad when you can see the swarm move on weather radar 🤢🦗 It's the blue line moving through the West Desert!
📹: @noaa pic.twitter.com/atNBLBoQNi— Braden McElreath (@BradenKSL) June 30, 2023
