Why is a Doppler Radar important to a meteorologist????

Question

i need help with this question please help its due soon like in about 3 days and i wanna hurry to make sure its PERFECT ya no.... the question waz....Why is a Doppler Radar important to a meteorologist? ....if ya can help then please do thanx ya HOLLA!!!!

Answer 1

It helps them know how heavy the rain is in a given storm and even if hail is present. Another advantage of Doppler radar is the ability to know if a raindrop is being driven at a high rate of speed. This information tells them if the storm has damaging winds or even a tornado.

Some radars can even look inside the storm dissecting its winds, movement and rainfall. In doing so it can show you if the storm contains hail and will even let you know the exact time the storm will hit your neighborhood.

Answer 2

Doppler radar ONLY indicates whether liquid or solid particles are moving toward or away from the radar, and at what speed, yet this is wonderful data to have.

In spite of many TV stations bragging about their "Super Turbo Nuclear Techno ZXQ 9000 Doppler" radars, they almost never show actual Doppler imagery on their broadcasts, even though their radars are, in fact, certainly Doppler capable, and the mets would be analyzing that data. The general public would be clueless, if they even viewed a Doppler image, as to what it meant or how to interpret the data. I think I did, in fact, see a Doppler image (it's called a velocity return) shown on TV for my first time ever earlier this year, somewhere in Tornado Alley while I was stormchasing.

I digress...

I can't present a complete radar interpretation tutorial right here, but here's the important stuff:

If a storm, or more specifically, a mesocyclone, begins to rotate, the Doppler imagery will make that known. As rain, hail, and dust swirl around the meso, half of it will be essentially moving toward the radar, and half will be moving away from the radar. Assuming a cyclonic rotation, the data will show that these particles are moving away from the radar at, say, 85mph on the right side of the meso, and moving toward the radar at 90mph on the left side.

Also assuming that this is occurring in a very small area, the met knows that there is possibly a tornado present.

Besides spinning around 360 degrees, radars also get tilted up and down to look at different altitudes of the sky. If at least three different tilts reveal this strong rotation, then you have what is called a Tornadic Vortex Signature, or TVS, and a tornado warning will be issued...if the mets have no ground truth from storm spotters indicating otherwise (i.e. that there is, in fact, NO tornado).

You may have heard of "Doppler indicated tornado". That's what that is. It does NOT mean that it is 100% positive that a tornado exists.

Doppler helps in other ways, but that is the most important to meteorologists. It saves lives by making it possible to issue tornado warnings with a MUCH greater level of confidence than simply looking at radar reflectivities, which only indicate how dense the particulates in a storm are. (And which is probably the ONLY type of radar presentation you have ever seen.)

It's also useful for estimating wind speeds as hurricanes make landfall.

To view an actual velocity image, go here, choose the radar site, and click on one of the tilts (0.5 deg, 1.5 deg, etc.) under "velocity" on the left side:

http://weather.cod.edu/analysis/analysis.radar.html

Save that link for when there are some nasty storms somewhere, and look then! It will be a very boring screen of you look when there is no severe weather activity.

Here is some more info:

http://theweatherprediction.com/radared/

Answer 3

Doppler Radar not only tells the meterologist the current precipitation, it tells which direction it's going. This allows the meteorologist to better track how precipitation is changing and where it's headed. It makes prediction more accurate and precise.

Answer 4

Why Is Radar Important

Answer 5

yes, where do you live because i think doppler radar is only used in the pan handle of Texas. i dont know why its important but the local meterologist, son goes to school with me! but yeah i would trust it if it says bad weather than i would listen.

Answer 6

wassup gurl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!