Weather RADAR Unit to be Renamed After President Trump

The sun rises over the new NEXRAD RADAR unit in Lakes Charles, Louisiana on the day the unit become operational once again today, January 22, 2021. Image: NWS — The sun rises over a new NEXRAD RADAR unit in Lakes Charles, Louisiana on the day the unit become operational in 2021. A unit similar to this located at Palm Beach Airport will be renamed after the President of the United States.

The National Weather Service has issued a Service Change Notice to alert interested parties that the weather radar unit at a Florida airport will soon be renamed after President Trump. Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) is officially renaming to President Donald J. Trump International Airport on July 1, 2026, with final Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval scheduled for July 9. To be in sync with the name change, the airport’s Terminal Weather Radar (TDWR) will be renamed from PBI to DJT.

According to the National Weather Service, on or around August 3, the Radar Operations Center will change the identifier for the Supplemental Product Generator (SPG) associated with the FAA’s radar unit at the airport at Palm Beach.

“With the FAA’s official name change of the airport, the SPG identifier for the site TPBI will change to TDJT, affecting disseminated level 2 data and level 3 products from this radar. New identifier DJT will be used wherever PBI currently appears,” the National Weather Service wrote.

The Terminal Doppler Weather Radar network is a doppler weather radar system operated by the Federal Aviation Administration. The system is primarily used to detect hazardous wind shear conditions, precipitation, and winds over and near major U.S. airports with frequent exposure to thunderstorms. As of 2014, there were 45 operational TDWR-Supplemental Project Generator radar systems in major metropolitan locations across the United States and Puerto Rico.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill in March allowing Palm Beach International Airport to be renamed the President Donald J. Trump International Airport. The change formally rebrands the airport near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. In Palm Beach, a stretch of roadway from Mar-a-Lago to the airport was also renamed to Donald J. Trump Boulevard.

While the name is changing, ownership and control of the airport doesn’t change. In a FAQ on the airport website, they write, “The name change does not alter ownership, governance, legal status or operational control of the airport. Palm Beach County will continue to oversee all airport policies, finances and strategic decisions. This is a branding change only.”

The Palm Beach County Commission approved a licensing agreement granting the Trump Organization control of the name, “Donald J. Trump International Airport. Specifically, the agreement gives the Trump Organization the ability to use the airport name commercially elsewhere, produce and sell its own branded merchandise, and license the trademark of the airport name to other third parties. The county the airport is in also retains rights to use the airport name, but does not hold exclusive rights.