Are these meteor trails?

Came across this link earlier today, one I had never seen before.

synoptic.envsci.rutgers.edu...

Is that map picking up meteors entering the atmosphere? Or are they just odd anomalies that show up in those readings?

Would love to hear any explanations on it, thanks in advance.

Looks like radar tracking lines from various reporting stations associated with the the overall radar picture. Note the bright one in Nevada moves in a sweep movement during 2 of the time lapsed movements.

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic


If you're referring to the lines in the radar readings, those are often just bits of interference. Notice how they always point at the radar source for that region, and they only extend one direction to the edge of the radar coverage zone. This is not uncommon, and can sometimes be attributed to the radar receiving interference from another radar station, the sun, or signal blocking items.(ETA: You'll notice the anomalies occur in a pattern consistent with where the sun would be at the perfect angle of the radar as the earth rotates. I'd say that's what this is.) Sometimes it's just a random occurrence.

The circles are just indications that the radar site is in clean air mode, a hyper sensitive slow scan mode that can pick up more finite particles.

Radar has a lot of peculiarities, learning to read it and understand all of the errors they can produce takes a lot of time and effort.

( www.crh.noaa.gov... )

In a word, no. Weather radar suffers from anaprop (anomalous propagation) caused by temperature inversions, radio interference and many other factors. I assume what's caught your attention are the 'streaks' that show up from time to time: these can be caused by faults in the radar equipment, or radio/telecoms transmissions. Not meteors in my opinion.

I totally get that, and thought it was just the radar line being picked up at that time.

What I don't get is why they propagate in a right to left motion throughout the day. You would think they would show up in random areas through the animation since the weather patterns are clearly moving throughout.

Plus the fact that not all go in the same direction.

Just odd.. but hey, that's why I asked.

I believe they are small anomalies as the radars interpret various moisture changes in the atmosphere. However, I would expect that meteors entering the atmosphere would look very similar to these.

Good Eye, and keep watching!

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic


It is odd, but not uncommon. As someone else said, there are a lot of reasons for anomalies.

Imagine you have a window facing west, and a table in front of the window. Every afternoon the sun will shine across the table for a period of time, then it'll pass. That's a simplified version of what happens with the radar system. Twice a day, the sun shines in just right to interfere with the receptor, giving the illusion of a strong return, producing a line.

Awesome guys, that is why I come here.

So much collective knowledge and experience on so many topics, it usually does not take long to come up with some logical answers... and the odd tinfoil mystery.

Drinks are on me tonight

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Read down in the answers section.

Mapkar
Imagine you have a window facing west, and a table in front of the window. Every afternoon the sun will shine across the table for a period of time, then it'll pass.

Yet another victim of the ATS window bug.

www.abovetopsecret.com...