PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Weather Radar interpretation
View Single Post
Old 17th Mar 2011, 11:31
  #9 (permalink)  
Checkboard
 
Join Date: Aug 1998
Location: Ex-pat Aussie in the UK
Posts: 5,807
Received 132 Likes on 64 Posts
How do you determine if a heavy/red radar return is :
- heavy stratus rain (meaning it safe to fly through)
or
- thunderstorm / CB cloud (not wise to fly through)
It's a combination of the latitude you are flying at, and the radar height of the cloud you are studying. The radar is calibrated for temperate zone weather - so gives a falsely strong reading in tropical zones, and a falsely weak reading in desert zones. Calibrated gain adjustments can correct for this if you know what you are doing! Determining the radar height of the cloud is part of the picture as well.

There are plenty of threads here on it (including Archie Trammel's info):

http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/48016...tml#post440714

http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/37673...her-radar.html

http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/23512...adar-tilt.html

http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/40341...-question.html

etc etc
Checkboard is online now