SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. - Overlooking U.S. Route 113 just north of Ellendale sits a structure that to a curious passerby might look like a large golf ball or volleyball atop a tall tower.
That structure is actually the National Weather Service's WSR-88D doppler radar. While the radar is located near Ellendale, it is often referred to as the Dover weather radar, or its call letters KDOX.
Doppler radar is one of the NWS' most important tools to analyze thunderstorms when they roll across Delmarva - and according to meteorologists at the NWS, the radar never sleeps.
"It's a piece of equipment that's always moving. We have it on 24/7," said Sarah Johnson, warning coordination meteorologist with the NWS Philadelphia/Mt. Holly, NJ weather forecast office.
The radar is part of the national NEXRAD network, which was installed in the early and mid 1990s.
Inside the radome (that's what the big white ball is called) sits one of the hardest working parts of the radar - the pedestal.
The pedestal is a heavy component that houses the electric motors and hardware that move the radar antenna up and down, and around and around.
It has reached the end of its service life, and to prevent a critical failure of the radar, it needs to be replaced.
"They actually have to have a crane that lifts the radome off the pedestal as well as then the pedestal itself as to be lifted," Johnson said as she described the work that is being done.
There are 159 NEXRAD radars in the United States. The work being done on the Dover radar is part of a $135 million dollar program between the National Weather Service, the U.S. Air Force, and the Federal Aviation Administration that will add more than 20 years of life to the network.
The Dover radar went offline Monday, and during the maintenance work, Delmarva will lose some radar coverage in the lowest levels of the atmosphere.
That's okay, though, since the NEXRAD radar network will still have the peninsula covered by other nearby radars in Sterling and Wakefield, Va., as well as in Fort Dix, N.J.
"That's why the network is what it is," Johnson said. We also have others that can back up in cases such as this where we're doing some preventative maintenance."
Barring no significant delays due to the weather or other causes, the National Weather Service expects the Dover radar to be back up and running no later July 21.