Role of Radar in Accurate Forecasts
Dynamic weather changes are responsible for the loss of over a million lives every year through storms, tornados and cyclones. Owing to advances in meteorological technology and specifically in local radar technology, warnings can be sent out much earlier today than yesteryears.
Local weather radars are typically used to locate rain, snow or hail, calculate their motion and locate their position and intensity in the future. Weather radars that are currently in use are of the pulse-Doppler type and can detect the motion of rain droplets and the intensity of precipitation with precision.
Meteorologists and scientists use many tracking systems for detecting the possibility of thunderstorms and tornados. The need for an early warning system was cited and some of the best meteorologists teamed up with the best scientists to make improvements in the local weather radar systems. Scientists today can easily predict the path of a tornado and storms thereby increasing the span of warning time.
One such tracking system is called NEXRAD (Next- Generation Radar). This tracking network involves the use of about 158 Doppler weather radars along with a high resolution computerized system which takes reading about various aspects such as precipitation, cloud movement and wind speed during a storm.
The readings thus taken are reverted back to a local weather computer, which produces a colored, high quality graphical image of the kind of weather one can expect. The final image is then broadcasted over various mediums for you to see and hear. Information about bad weather conditions is relayed using the local weather radar to the residents of the area through television where a computer-animated image of an approaching storm can be seen.
The National Weather Service may intervene in case of more severe storms. They generally issue area specific warnings of thunderstorms or cyclones in your area. Paying attention to the weather map during bad weather conditions is of great importance. If your area is prone to cyclones then it is recommended that you understand it well.
As mentioned before, a multi-colored image will be screened on the television with colors ranging from blue (lighter in tone) to black (heavier tone). Yellow colors will generally indicate distress but if the colors range from orange to blue, then you will need to take caution and take cover. Orange and red generally represent wind with very high speeds and dangerous lightening. The color black will be used to depict extremely severe storms. There are only a few such storms recorded in world history that were represented by this color and almost all of them have caused severe damage to life and property.
Local radio and television stations always interrupt their broadcasts to relay warning of severely bad weather to as many people as possible in order to let them have enough time to take cover. In essence local weather radars have made life a lot easier and safe and the losses to life and property due to dynamic weather changes have progressively reduced during the years.