"Electric Power Monthly". U.S. Department of Energy. February 2012.
For instance, research has shown that wind turbines mix the lower layers of the atmosphere thus creating for warmer temperatures at night underneath them. Another issue with wind turbines is when the proximity of the turbines falls to close to weather radar sites. Weather radar takes readings at multiple different levels by sending microwave radiation pulses out from the radar site and listening for their returns. The issue with the turbines comes in when these pulses actually hit the turbines and return to the radar, making the radar believe there is actually precipitation there as shown in the image below.
But may wind turbines actually present benefits to meteorology?
On May 19th, multiple tornadoes occurred over two counties, Harper and Kingman, in Kansas. One of these tornadoes affected a new wind farm known as Flat Ridge 2 which is owned by BP and consists of 262 turbines. The tornado went almost straight through the middle of the wind farm, as can be seen in my image below with the wind turbines running along the ridge in the background.
The tornado destroyed the blades of many of the wind turbines as shown in some of the damage photos posted on the NWS Wichita’s site below.
Initially this tornado was rated an EF1 based on its damage to the turbines and some trees and power lines which it destroyed. However, after taking a look at the data the wind turbines recorded during the tornado, the tornado was upgraded to an EF3. This is because one of the turbines recorded a 166 mph wind gust at 300 feet above the ground. With little research actually existing on the interactions of tornadoes and wind turbines, it is not known exactly at what speeds that wind turbines will begin to show damage. Additionally, with so many different kinds of wind turbines made by different companies, it is even more difficult to estimate what this speed may be. The advantage to meteorology comes in with the actual measurements taken by wind turbines. With so many of these wind turbines going up across areas frequently hit by tornadoes, very accurate readings on tornado wind speeds may become increasingly likely to find. This could not only benefit verification surveys of tornadoes but also could help aid in giving more information on the wind speeds of tornadoes throughout their life cycles.
Some have argued that placing wind turbines in areas frequented by tornadoes could be dangerous due to the addition of flying projectiles. While this may be somewhat true, I think it is of note here to show that these wind turbines survived an EF3 tornado without falling over and only having some of their blades sheared off. This shows that these turbines are strong enough already to withstand some of the strongest winds mother nature can leash out and as more events like this occur, engineers will be able to improve on designs to ensure even less damage to turbines. Therefore, as wind energy continues to expand, despite the consequences to current weather radar systems for meteorologists, it is encouraging to see a potential unforeseen advantage to wind energy for the meteorological community in the accurate wind measurements of tornadoes.