NWS Doppler Radar SRM 4-Panel March 2, 2012

Heavy Rain and Flooding Possible in the Southwest U.S, Ohio Valley, and Hawaii

Heavy rainfall is expected to continue through Thursday over New Mexico into far west Texas. Flash flooding and debris flows in wildfire burn areas will be possible. Heavy rain and flash flooding is also expected over the southern Appalachians and Ohio Valley. Tropical Depression 15-E, southeast of Hawaii, is expected to bring heavy rain beginning today to the Big Island and Maui. Read More >

NWS Doppler Radar (WSR-88D) Example Products

A 4-panel of storm-relative motion (SRM) velocity data at 4 different elevation angles from the KLVX WSR-88D Doppler Radar. SRM data depicts estimated velocity values relative to entities moving through their environment (e.g., the wind a thunderstorm "feels" as it moves). Green (red) colors depict winds moving toward (away from) the radar location (at Ft. Knox for KLVX radar).

At left is a 4-panel SRM display that matches the 4-panel reflectivity display on the sample Doppler radar data page from the tornadic supercell thunderstorm over south-central Indiana on March 2, 2012. In the top left panel, a tight, strong, cyclonic (counterclockwise) rotational couplet (low-level mesocyclone) is evident in northwest Clark County where an EF3-EF4 tornado occurred. Higher up in the storm, SRM showed a deep-layered mesocyclone (top right, bottom right), with storm-top divergence at lower left.