Unexplained movement on Albuquerque weather radar found to be grasshoppers
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Weather officials in Albuquerque say a mysterious presence that showed up on its radar the last few nights has turned out to be of the insect variety.
The National Weather Service says a swarm of grasshoppers were detected over Albuquerque's West Mesa for the fourth night in a row on Friday.
Meteorologist Chuck Jones says the swarm got caught up in winds heading southwest and is being carried as high as 1,000 feet.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jones says the grasshoppers likely hatched weeks ago and are now grown, leading to their ability to trigger radar images.
Officials say last year's monsoon season and a drier winter created the ideal environment for the grasshoppers to hatch.
Technicians initially thought their equipment was malfunctioning when they saw several unexplained clusters.