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 164 NEXRAD sites in the U. S., 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). New technologies that will emerge later in the decade are Phased Array Radars, an adaptation of military technology that will allow faster scan rates, and Dual Polarization, which will allow better determination of precipitation phase and particle sizes. A dual wavelength radar system to help detect hazardous aircraft icing is now under development. Listed below are some resources for information on weather radars. The list of commercial vendors does not necessarily represent official endorsement by the NWA.

Take the Dual Polarization Impacts Survey (NOAA WDTB, Norman, OK)

General Information on WSR-88D Radars

• List of WSR-88D radar sites
• Current status of radars

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)
• National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
• OFCM Report on Phased Array Radars

Current Radar Data

• National Weather Service (NOAA)
• US Composite/Loop (UNISYS Corp.)
• US Composite Loop (WSI Corporation)
• US Composite Radar/satellite Loop (Freese-Notis Corporation)
• Local NEXRAD Images (from WSI via UCAR Radar Page)
• RIDGE display in GIS (NOAA/NWS)

Radar 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.
• Ellason Weather Radar
• Enterprise Electronics, Inc.
• Gematronik
• Meteorologix, Inc.
• Radtech Engineering, Inc.
• Weather Decision Technologies, Inc.

Training Resources on Weather Radars

• Radar Tutorials (NOAA Warning Decision Training Branch, Norman, OK)
• University of Illinois tutorial
• Severewx.com
• WeatherTap.com
• Resources from Les Lemon (email link)

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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 - June 20, 2009