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Originally posted by Watts
radar.weather.gov...
Pick if you missed it:
There's no way anyone can get me to believe this is normal. I've never seen radar returns like that until this year.
Local radar isn't an explanation for obvious reasons. I fit it was due to local radar, all cloud/precipitation would look like that on the entire map.
I can't say its HAARP but I can say its not normal. To disagree is to be blind.
Where is the old "black background" version?
In the "Standard Version" of the radar display, the background color was changed from black to white for accessibility reasons. The black background was less friendly to those with colorblindness. In fact the black background with green and red data (highways and county lines) is impossible for the 1 in 20 males to use. The white background complies with Section 508 accessibility requirements - which cannot be said for the black background.
Originally posted by weedwhacker
reply to post by Watts
I see you (conveniently??) cut off the title, on top of the image, on the website:
Base Reflectivity
Do you understand that there are, every year, more and more improved Doppler Radar installations being built?
DO you realize that a Doppler Radar antenna is located on the ground?
Do you understand, then, why the limit of the radar's ability to scan the area will be roughly circular? With a specif radius (depending on ground clutter, and terrain....obstructions, and slope?
Did you consider that, perhaps, this is possibly a new format, for the NWS site, in the means they display information??
Prior to starting a thread, with the veiled "OMG" in the title....would it behoove a responsible ATS member to do the least bit of research, and consider many of those (few) ideas, above??
Base Reflectivity
This is a display of echo intensity (reflectivity) measured in dBZ (decibels of Z, where Z represents the energy reflected back to the radar). "Reflectivity" is the amount of transmitted power returned to the radar receiver. Base Reflectivity images are available at several different elevation angles (tilts) of the antenna and are used to detect precipitation, evaluate storm structure, locate atmospheric boundaries and determine hail potential.
The base reflectivity image currently available on this website is from the lowest "tilt" angle (0.5°). This means the radar's antenna is tilted 0.5° above the horizon.
The maximum range of the "short range" (S Rng) base reflectivity product is 124 nm (about 143 miles) from the radar location. This view will not display echoes that are more distant than 124 nm, even though precipitation may be occurring at greater distances. To determine if precipitation is occurring at greater distances, select the "long range" (L Rng) view (out to 248 nm/286 mi), select an adjacent radar, or link to the National Reflectivity Mosaic.
Base Reflectivity -- One of the three fundamental quantities (along with base [radial] velocity and spectrum width) that a Doppler radar measures. Reflectivity is related to the power, or intensity, of the reflected radiation that is sensed by the radar antenna. Base reflectivity is expressed on a logarithmic scale in units called dBZ. The term "base" refers to the product being "basic", with little advanced processing performed on the data. Base reflectivity is related to rainfall intensity (e.g., drop size and rainfall rate) and hail size (for large values of reflectivity).
So you're gonna tell me this is normal?
Originally posted by Watts
I've never seen radar returns like that until this year.
Originally posted by CLPrime
reply to post by weedwhacker
I understand just fine. I don't think you understand what I'm saying. All I'm saying is that the two maps don't have the same projection (you know...like, Mercator, Equal-Area, etc.), so, when I overlaid them, I couldn't match up both maps over the entire United States (not the locations of the stations or whatever...the maps, themselves). Because the radar station map uses more of a curved projection for its map than the live radar map, the two can only be matched up in the middle, where both maps are more-or-less horizontal.
Why is the image squashed? What projection is this?
The images appear elongated because of the Geographic Coordinate System (GCS) way of displaying the information. In order for GIS-based programs to ingest the Doppler radar data, the information is displayed in an UN-projected format. This means the display of information, intended for a spherical earth, becomes distorted when the image is viewed on a flat surface.