We are now at the peak of the bird migration season, and weather radar does a good job of tracking our feathered friends.
The massive bird swarms over us now are a powerful tool for determining gaps in weather radar coverage.
Let's examine the regional radar imagery in more detail.
As some background, here are some weather radar-based bird migration statistics (from the Cornell BirdCast website). Birds like to fly from sunset to sunrise, with a peak around midnight/
At 5 PM yesterday, the combined radar image showed was just some local ground clutter.
The current weather radar locations are shown below with blue dots.
Suggested locations for new radars are shown by the red circles. Additional radars would be very helpful for weather prediction and other uses (e.g., wildfire management, flood warnings, and more).
Thank you, Professor Mass, for this informative post. Who knew that birds could be so helpful for exposing gaps in weather radar coverage? I would never have thought that myself!
ReplyDeleteAs for your suggested locations for future weather radars, they appear to be approximatley Coos Bay on the Oregon Coast, Burns in rural Oregon, and Ellensburg in Central Washington. Is that correct?
Also, I noticed last week that a section of forest surrounding the Washington coastal radar at Langley Hill near Copalis Beach has recently been logged. Will this help or hinder the radar's ability to do its job, or will it have no impact at all?
Many thanks!
I always assumed that many of the coverage gaps over the Cascades, Olympics, and Okanagans were due to the mountains completely blocking radar coverage over/through them. How much territory here simply can’t be covered unless you turn the volcanoes into weather radar platforms?
ReplyDeleteEllensburg is in sort of a hole (no pun intended). Mission Peak, 20 miles NNE, is almost 7,000 feet. Better.
ReplyDeleteCan we get the Eurasian Collared Doves to go south - and stay?
Thanks Cliff. Both fun and important.
Super interesting and informative post. Can weather radar pick up directions of flight, or just birds in the air? And does it detect the nightly crow migration toward their roosting area in Bothell/Redmond?
ReplyDeleteBeing in the Okanogan Valley and a weather geek, I for one would like more radar coverage. I would think given the fires and potential floods and debris flows, we could get funding for one. I mainly use NWS Spokane for my weather, but their spot forcast can be way off, with better coverage and knowing what atmosphere is doing with that data, they can train the models to forcast our area better? Given our terrian features and micro climates they can be way off at times. For example our last big snow storm in the valley they had 6in forcasted, I got 18in. For rain, sometimes I joke the higher chances the NWS give the less of chance we have. At times it seems like if you bet against them, pretty good chance you are right, lol. All and all they are decent, but a radar that covers our area would help a lot , I would think?
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