Weather Radar

NWA Remote Sensing Committee

 

The WSR-88D Doppler radar (NEXRAD) represents the backbone of the severe weather warning system in the United States for both the National Weather Service (NWS) and Department of Defense (DoD). There are a total of 159 NEXRAD sites, including Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. There are also many Doppler radars operated by major market television stations. A more specialized weather radar for the detection of microbursts in the vicinity of some large airports is the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR), operated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Installation of dual polarization capabilities, which allows better determination of precipitation phase and particle sizes, was completed in 2013. A new technology that may eventually become operational is Phased Array Radar, an adaptation of military technology that will allow faster scan rates. Listed below are some resources for information on weather radars. The list of commercial vendors does not necessarily represent official endorsement by the NWA.

Dual-Pol Radar Resources List (Books and Journal articles)
General Information on WSR-88D Radars

• WSR-88D radar site map

Aviation Weather radars and products (MIT Lincoln Laboratory)

• Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS)
• Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR)
• Multimission Phased Array Radar (MPAR)
• Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS)

Radar Research

• Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA), U. Mass. Amherst
• MIT Lincoln Laboratory
• National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL)

Current/Archived Radar Data and Visualization Tools

• Local NEXRAD sites (including Dual Polrazation College of DuPage, IL
• National Weather Service (NOAA)
• US Composite/Loop(UNISYS Corp.)
• US Composite Loop (WSI Corporation)
• Local NEXRAD Images (NCAR Research Applications Lab)
• U.S. Composite with GIS background (NCDC, Asheville, NC)
• RIDGE display in GIS (NOAA/NWS)
• Archived NEXRAD data (NCEI)
• 3-day archived NEXRAD data (Iowa State Univ.)
• Visualization tools for radar data (NCEI)

Radar Derived Products

• NCEP Multi-sensor Stage II Precipitation
• NCEP Multi-sensor Stage IV Precipitation

Commercial Radar Vendors (For information only; not an endorsement by the NWA)

• Advanced Designs Corp.
• Baron Services, Inc.
• Enterprise Electronics, Inc.

Training Resources on Weather Radars

• Dual-polarization (NOAA Warning Decision Training Branch, Norman, OK
• University of Illinois tutorial
• Everythingweather.com

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The National Weather Association (NWA) provides this information for the benefit of members and guests. Reference in this Web site to any specific information, commercial products, process, service, manufacturer, or company does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation by the NWA. The NWA is not responsible for the contents of any "off-site" Web page referenced from this Web site. To provide feedback to the NWA staff and volunteers who maintain this page or to ask for further information on this topic, please contact the NWA Remote Sensing Committee
Last modified - 13 December 2017