Ever wonder what those blobs actually mean? Or how to see wind, hail, and tornadoes on radar? Learn how radar works, as well as how it's used, from meteorologists to storm chasers.
I use RadarScope Pro and (to a lesser degree) GRLevel3 in the field. I don’t use weather apps; instead I look at model data and soundings. I’m old school.
This guy is not the end-all-be-all to weather radar LOL some guy may say "Barney and Friends special super happy radar app" is the most accurate just make sure you don't argue with people and say that hey this dude on this RUclips channel said this was the most accurate one so this is the one you should use LOL double check everything in your life and once you've double-checked it.. double-check it again I'm just saying I'm reminding myself as well why I'm letting you know this stuff may sound fantastic you know RUclips video but bomb in reality I'm not saying this guy is but just be aware I know when The Weather Channel 9 times out of 10 shows the most horrible spot on a weather radar that indeed when it comes across where I live it is the most horrible spot with the weather that comes across LOL remember that
@@Wes4Trumpthey don’t try to. I’m 23 and when I went to school they didn’t offer any cursive classes or anything I learned on my own. I’m not exactly sure why this is but a lot of classes that would have to do with being independent as an adult aren’t taught anymore. They don’t even teach you how to do taxes or write a check.
Man, incredible work. I actually think this is on par with RUclips greats like Hank and Skip, minus some gnarly tornado footage and ukelele. Persistence...
Wow. Loved the video. You should teach a class on this topic. My and me been to TOM SKILLINGS Tornado seminar in the summer. Northen Illinois COLLEGE OF LAKE COUNTY.
-Spends 30 minutes watching an interesting video about radar and windy bois. -Is now a self-proclaimed pro windy boi spotter. -Will use this at some point in the future to impress whoever dares listen.
@@watchchrischase 🙌🏻 Yes! Super fun to do-just be sure to start looking for classes in Feb/March, as they’re usually in early spring and then that’s it!
This was the greatest explanation I have found yet in understanding the radar and how to read it. I've been a certified spotter and am an avid chaser and I have been looking for something like this for a few years and finding bits and pieces I managed to put pieces together like a puzzle but your video has it all out together with very good explanation! Thank you so much for this video!!
YES!!!! I was just BLOWN AWAY by how succinctly he explains the most important ways of interpreting Radar Scope. I will come back to this video and again!
@Rob Kercheval - you took the words right out of my mouth. Now I need to watch it about 5-10 times drive it all home. Will make my watching chasers today 4/22/22 more interesting. Thanks @Watch Chris Chase
I'll second that Rob. I am just a weather enthusiast/nerd, but I very much appreciated this simple, accurate and comprehensive lesson in how to read what radar indicates. One of the best explanations I've seen to date. Thank you for this installment, I feel I understand it quite well now. And to all you brave storm chasers/spotters out there.... please be careful and your work is deeply appreciated!
Living in Oklahoma City our meteorologists often launch into conversations on the air concerning correlation coefficient and other products used to analyze their radar data. So I’ve been studying on my own to understand this concept. Thank you for a great video of the basics. We know the value of good storm chasers, also. Early warning saves lives.
I’ve seen this! I watch my fair share of KFOR when I’m out there on chases. WAAAY different from Detroit-area severe coverage. You guys have chase choppers, too-crazy!
@@watchchrischase Oklahoma tends to have so many severe storms and tornados. Poor moore oklahoma IIRC has taken two direct hits from large tornadoes in the last 50 years.
OKC probably takes it to the next level, but here in Springfield, MO, I love watching chief meteorologist Ron Hearst on KY3 (especially when he launches his Facebook Live streams during severe weather). He's clearly a passionate weather geek and will go on for a solid hour-plus analyzing the various products in real-time and showing bow echoes and hook echoes and all kinds of things--it's incredibly educational! Never lived anywhere before that had regular severe weather, so it's been fun to see it in action so regularly!
This, without a doubt, is the best explanation of how to read/understand basic weather radar data that i've ever seen. Despite years of casually looking at weather radar every time a thunderstorm rolls through my area in NW Ohio, I have always felt like I was "slacking" in my role as a "Midwestern Dad/Husband"...I have always struggled to gather the weather information I needed by simply stepping outside to watch the impending storm front like some ancient soothsayer clad only in a white t-shirt, khaki cargo shorts, and ankle socks. For the first time in my life, I now have the confidence needed to pull up the NEXRAD images and tell my wife and children, "Ope... uh... Honey!.. uhhh.. we might want to go down to the basement. The radar is looking pretty nasty and its almost on top of us." Seriously though... Excellent job and thank you for making such an informative vid!
Yeah it’s a huge help. Radar is still confusing cause it’s just pixelated random colors but this helps a ton. I’ve already pointed out a supercell just south of me before it got severe warned. I’ve also watched a ton of crazy ugly storms recently. Today was pretty crazy. Tons of giant blobs of supercells mushed together and some huge tornado warnings in Canada. I learned that Canada issues really big and oddly shaped tornado warnings today. This stuff is fun. I seriously wish the high school had a class on this I could take but they don’t. Photography is the only interesting thing they got but I know they’ll ruin that and make it about instagram or some junk. Whatever I can still learn by myself slowly and I’m still having a blast looking at radar and watching storms.
Man, I really hope I live long enough to see large deployments of phased array radars. The WSR-88D has been a work horse and dualpol has done so much to improve it, but we are really at the limits of what it can do. There is so much potential with phased arrays with beam stearing and site to site data interpretation. I really want to see it in action.
The history of meteorology has pretty much developed alongside advancements of radio technology, electrical engineering and meteorology collaborating closely to identify efficient ways to interpret the signals into useful information. With the advancement and cost reductions we are seeing now in phased arrays, we are putting them in cell towers on every street corner now, it seems like an obvious and exciting next technology for weather use. "The weatherman uses 5G deathbeams to make the weather!" Good for meteorology, and fun for the crazies, too!
As long as we're relying on a government agency using government funds, I don't think that will happen. 😞 If it doesn't make them money or help win a war, I doubt they'll want to spend the money on it.
I certainly hope we get to see something like the advanced technology demonstrator installed as the 88D's successor ruclips.net/video/Xso-P0UAE88/видео.html
I love that the chasers used mobile Arrays in the new Twisters movie. I didn’t even realize that’s what that was until this video and some training I took. I agree, the WSR-88D is a workhorse and has more than served its purpose but it’s time to really improve and move on. As per usual the military gets it right first lol
9:22 For optical doppler effects, it is called red shift and blue shift, where red shift means moving away, and blue shift means moving toward. This would help explain why red means moving away, but it is a little inconsistent with green/blue both meaning moving towards.
I'll add, that for color deficient folks like me it would be a lot easier if the blue shift was displayed as blue. Much easier for us to differentiate red from blue, than red from green.
Redshifting only for crazy stuff like galaxies moving or the universe expanding. Like andromeda. It’s supposed to be slightly blueshifted cause it’s speeding towards us. Still looks pretty reed though.
Radarscope has a color palette called balance for the Velocity bucket. What exactly is that? Its always white.. so i assume it just means incoming and outgoing MPH winds neutralizing each other to zeroish?
A couple months ago, a tornado would drop at around midnight here in Georgia. My stepdad, who’s lived in Georgia his whole life, immediately put my family and I in a closet (which made me nervous considering we couldn’t fit in the storm closet so he put us in the master closet, which is one wall away from the outside) and turned on the TV while we hid away. He watched the news the whole time, never coming to check on us once. At some point, he gave us the okay sign. My mom got super mad at him, and I was mainly shook and confused on how he managed to stay so calm as an EF4 tornado was about 5 miles from us. It was my first tornado experience so I have my reason to be afraid, I’m very scared of extreme weather. But seeing this video makes me happy because I can watch and understand with him now. I can interpret if a tornado will drop or is coming towards us, and that makes me relieved. Thanks man, you just made my day and/or my future ten times easier.
Thank you so much for this. We live in a tiny town in Mississippi, and with the severe weather we get here and not having local weather, I wanted to be able to read a radar for myself. You might have single-handedly saved my fiance and I haha.
the tornado example used at 23:36 was (i think) the closest tornado to my house. the tornado first touched down at the intersection of i-35 and walnut hill ln at around 9pm (about 2 miles from my house). as it progressed, it got as close as 1.5 miles from where i live. luckily we experienced no damage. thomas jefferson high school and the elementary school one of my friends went to was completely destroyed.
Holy cow, I’m glad you’re ok! I’m in and around the DFW area a lot, and I remember following it live as it unfolded. I remember thinking “I know right where that is!” as the coverage aired. It’s an eerie feeling. Very happy you got by unscathed.
I also live around that area by I-35 and walnut hill. We got struck directly by the tornado. Luckily, my family wasn’t at home at the time as we were on the way back home from the state fair. But when we came back, it was pure chaos and my dog was scared as he had hid inside the house when the tornado went over the neighborhood. We lost power for 3 weeks until service was restored. It’s a weird feeling how those moments where my neighborhood was being destroyed was described in full detail from a meteorologists perspective. I don’t go to school in that neighborhood, but lots of my friends said that they got transferred over from the Cary middle school and Thomas Jefferson high school. To this day, they’re still in process of reconstruction and are expected to have the school open by the 22-23 school year. Also, I had a friend called Angel in elementary school, is that you Angel??
This is a very valuable lesson! We rarely get supercell tornadoes in Europe, but they do happen. I have often seen a hook echo in the reflectivity pattern over Germany and Poland, sometimes bringing EF1-2 tornadoes. Now I know for sure when to warn my friend and family to stay indoors :)
23:20 you covered the "hook echo" and great job describing it. between the hook echo and "debris void" it have personally identified radar indicated rotation or radar indicated tornadoes before the local meteorologists. and even at times the local meteorologists are just relying information to the public from the NWS. But after 30 years of looking at radar base reflectivity, composite reflectivity and radial velocity. I can safely assure people when there is and isn't a tornado. The crazy thing about tornadic weather, is the rapid building, onset and short-lived power that a scattered thunderstorm can have. I have had people believe that they are completely random. I have people that believe that the chances of being hit in a city are imposible. Not to mention the number of people that have never seen one where safety takes a long hike and the spectacle curiosity of a tornado takes over. There are people where I live that have not seen a tornado for 20+ years. People born in that time that know nothing of what can happen to you and your family. the entirety of the east coast and the gulf has people in their single lifetimes have several small hurricanes or tropical storms ravage their homes and neighborhoods. With a catastrophic storm destroying entire cities at least once in their lifetime. Your chances of dying to a hurricane or tropical storm are greater than dying to a tornado. And while we are at it your chances of dying from everyday activities such as eating, driving, walking, you name it are so great your would think that three times in a calendar year you would die in a car accident.
Just found this and WOW! THANK YOU! I was transplanted to Iowa after 50 years growing up in So CA ...and I've been mystified but fascinated by the storm coverage.
This was the most straightforward and easily understood meteorological video I've come across. I've always been fascinated by severe weather, and I always aced science classes, but I'm still over here feelin' 🥴🤯 listening to many videos dubbed "basic" in content. 😅 thank you for such a clear and concise explanation! This was SO helpful! 💯🙏
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to tell people about weak and brief tornadoes being spawned in a derecho or other converging storms. I’ve witnessed them so many times! But people just don’t believe it to be true 🙄. Very informative video as I also use the same techniques as you showed others in this video. Well done sir! Stay safe and chase on 😬
The way you explain how to read radar is so easy and simple to understand! I want to be a storm chaser later on in life, and this is honestly getting me there. But, I am NOT going out there till I know storm chaser safety, but at least I know how to read the basic of radar. Thank you for this video, it has helped me so much, and the next time a severe thunderstorm is hurling towards me, I'm going to immediately check reflectivity, velocity, and CC. If I see a hook echo, along with red moving away from green in a coupling, and I see a debris ball, I'll know there's a strong tornado lofting debris! If not, then I'm probably fine. (:
Thank you. I've always been on edge and fighting off panic attacks everytime something happened because I didn't understand. Now I do. Thank you very much. Got a storm blowing through tonight but now I understand what Im looking at and have prepared accordingly.
I don't know if you're still reading comments in 2024, but this is the BEST video on how to read a radar I've seen. I've watched several, and on one I almost fell asleep, but this one is great. You have the gift of teaching, I think. Romans 10:8-13; John 3:16-21
Thanks for this clear and concise explanation of Doppler radar products and their application in evaluating storm features! This is the first season I've seen CC used during outbreak monitoring livestreams, and while quickly learning to recognize a debris signature, knowing more about the hows and whys of CC imaging makes it much easier to answer Hubby Normal's questions about what's going on with approaching storms. 😀👍
I'm just getting into storm chasing and spotting, Ive always loved watching tornadoes and thunderstorms. For quite a while now I've been using Storm Hunter WX but have recently reached out to friends to find other apps to use. Radarscope, Omega Radar, GR2 were all recommended. Thank you for making this video its helped me greatly with better understanding not just how to read the radar but also overall weather. Keep up the amazing work and be safe out there!
I have lived in Central Illinois for the last 43 years. The one echo that always scares me is the one that looks like a capital S or imagine what a Sea Horse looks like. Those are the ones that send me seeking shelter and worrying about losing our home.
🙌🏻 This video is *PURE GOLD!!* I can’t believe that a 30 minute video gives such a *FABULOUS* explanation of the most vital aspects of Radar Scope & understanding severe storms! Saving this!! *THANK YOU, CHRIS!* 🌪 ⛈
Thank you so much for this video. It really gave me the tools to put my mind at ease during thunderstorms! If I can understand something better I can be less afraid of it
Savy you said it right there. Storms are nothing to be scare of if we know things and are prepared when they do occur. This video proves that. You will be less afraid of it now. When a tornado is confirmed by human eyes then it time to be concerned.
Thank you so much for explaining the color usage on radar screens. I had always assumed that red was bad storms. I'm starting to learn now the color usage on storm inflow and outflow now.
Love this. I have been looking for something like this after attending a Skywarn class. I am a weather nut but never really completely understood how to read a radar.
You kept my 9 year old grandson enthrawled!!! ... and he is going into 5th grade this next school year. He already is doing 7th and 8th grade math problems... wow, he is really interested in the math behind the radars, dopler, and wind vectors!
I have been a spotter for over 20 years and have done a little bit of chasing along with ham radio Reporting think this is an excellent presentation. Thank you for taking the time. I will share this with every new spotter
As a Florida native that has lived through Andrew and many others I find the summer weather here in SE/Central Michigan to be rather interesting. Thank you for this awesome presentation.
Dude, this was a masterclass explanation, got me from noob to pro in 30 minutes. Thank you, subscribed, and keep posting such insanely good content. Worthy of a TED presentation man, amazing work!
Great easy and understandable explanation, thank you. I run a fire lookout on the mogollon rim, and have been trying to get a better understanding of radar to possibly help the crews on the ground stay safer. The crews try and stay on a fire for as long as possible before a storm gets too close and they have to ride it out in their vehicles. If you could do a video explaining radar and monsoons for those of us out west that would be amazing! You touched a bit on micro bursts and straight line winds in this video, but I feel there is so much more I should learn to be able to read a monsoon better.
Chris, this was exactly what I was looking for, and you really make some incredible videos. I noticed you don't have any recent vids, but I really hope you make some more because you are really good. Thanks for the knowledge!
Thanks Eric! I still need to finish a June tornado video I’ve been procrastinating since... last June. And 2022 severe season is right around the corner. Check back soon, and thanks again!
The first time i had seen a reflectivity sourced debris ball was with the el reno tornado which showed a black dot right above the hook echo and just starting to learn all of this i had no idea why it did that as i knew very little about reflectivity's ability to coincide with the correlation coefficient's debris ball or "hole" but after doing more research and watching your video it makes so much more sense ontop of researching both of the Moore Oklahoma ef-5's and the joplin ef-5 reflectivity, velocity, base velocity and the correlation coefficient using a quad pane radar setup so i greatly appreciate you doing this especially as an amature storm chaser it helps me understand the situations i put myself in so i can help others and remain safe at the same time
I enjoyed your lovely presentation -- it taught me a few things about weather radar I didn't quite understand before! The dual-polarization tech used in today's NEXRAD installations came from Baron Weather (then called Baron Services) in Huntsville, Alabama. . The company was created by meteorologist Bob Baron after the horrible November 15, 1989 tornado that injured several hundred and killed 21 victims as it tore along Airport Road during afternoon rush. If you're not familiar with Baron, you might be familiar with one of their major products: VIPIR, the 3-D weather visualization system used by a whole bunch of TV stations and other entities across the US.
SUPERB tutorial. I appreciate the RadarScope use too..came across it and love it, despite no professional knowledge. Was ~1 mile from path of tornado in Dallas in 2019.
My dude, this is the best weather/chaser vid I have ever seen. I am utterly fascinated by weather and storms. Whenever a storm moves in my area I'm all over it! However, I never _really_ understood how to read the radar. Thank you so so much for this vid! I have learned *so* much in a rather short amount of time. I'm definitely subbing, and I can't wait to see what you'll do next!
I have been a ham radio operator for almost a year and with this storm season have gotten into the SKYWARN and storm spitting type stuff. This video really helped me understand radar, thanks so much!
Thank you so much for this comment!! I forgot all about ham radios, but you just reigniting my interest. I just learned it’s not too hard getting a license and getting started. I’m super excited about this, and I’m definitely going to do it! Maybe I’ll catch you around! 📻
Just a follow up: Thanks to you, Jared, my 75 year old dad is testing for his ham license this Thursday. He first got his license as a 12 year old kid, and he’s been having so much fun revisiting all of this!! I am absolutely thrilled. He wants to join a ham radio club as well and already found one. I am half way through my course, and this is something my dad and I will be able to do together. It’s a new language to me, but I’m having fun (I enjoy a challenge!). I have a good friend who is determined to get his license this summer. We will all get our technician, immediately followed by the general license. Anyway, just wanted you to know! Thanks again for your comment! 😊
Kids can't read cursive today, but try and teach this? Lol. I know what you mean, but they don't teach hardly anything a child will need in the real world now.
It is lol back in like seventh grade I remember taking a science class and they talked about all this stuff and more but being not even a teenager yet I didn’t care nor remember so here I am learning it again
I have been into weather for 10 years, and this is by far the most accurate radar video I have ever seen. Super well done, and a great introduction to weather! Great job!
I would love to see some sort of practice sets with real radar data so we can test our skills at reading the various products to put together a coherent picture of a storm. Also, an explanation of dual polarization would be great too!
event after taking aviation weather classes, as a pilot this is such valuable information for me to understand on an even better level now and how it will help me flight plan in the future! thank you so much for this video!!
This video is EXTREMELY helpful. Thank you! We've been in Kansas for almost three years now and have experienced one tornado a few miles from our house. I've now taken a deep dive into understanding how all of this works to be better prepared now that I live in tornado alley.
Derecho is a new term to me. It explains a lot about how (as an airline pilot) we used to circumnavigate (usually the northern end of) 'waves' of storms sweeping west to east across KORD and land in the better weather between them. Thank goodness for experienced ATC personnel in Chicago and our own weather radar on board.
Best video on RUclips of all time. Seriously. I was just driving home yesterday wishing there was a storm meteorology class for the layman. I had about 8 or 9 “Ohhhhh…” moments where something so simple finally made sense. THANK YOU! Please please do more videos just like this. You must have been a 6th grade science teacher in a past life. Every single thing you said made perfect sense. Amazing.
Thank you for doing a splendid job of acquainting people ('spotters') to radar, WCC. Very well explained (yes, am a chaser since '08), so that just about anyone can grasp just what signatures means. I'd recommend this video to those involved in spotting with your local Emergency Manager, to watch this video again and again, so as to keep this info fresh and completely understood.
Thanks for the video, I want to be a storm chaser when I grow up, so I'm gathering all the knowledge I can before I do, this was very helpful recognizing clear indications on radars, the wind bow was very useful for me currently, a lot of them will come in every now and then, and they can break a lot of things.
This is exactly the video I wanted but never thought I would find. Do you think you could do a video on how infrastructure interferes with weather? When I was in college the very large highway nearby always seemed to break up storms like they were hitting a wall. If they went over the highway I knew it was really really bad.
Yeah id like this guy to write a book on everything weather he knows - id easily pay a few hundred for a good book that covers it all. Right now im assembling a 1000 pg pdf from random articles found online but I want a good book. I have weather dummies now and its not bad but I want supplement
This is definitely the best guide to radar I have seen. I would definitely recommend this to someone looking for a radar guide video that isn't super confusing. You explained things verry well and easy to understand. Good job and I am subscribed now because of this video.
+1 on dual-pol. Would like to get some info on some of the precip products, as well as more technical stuff like spectrum width and info like the different VCPs and whatnot.
I'm going to watch this repeatedly to soak in as much as I can, because having ADHD sucks. It takes massive amounts of repetition for most knowledget to stick thanks to a horrible working memory. BUT... hyperfixations means that my interest in this will let me go over it a few dozen times. I know more than I did when I started, and that's a victory. :) Living in California means storm chasing is off the table, but I've loved storms since I was a little kid. Thanks for breaking this down for us idiots to understand the concepts and build on them. :)
Watched this video while reviewing for my synoptic meteorology final exams here in the Philippines... Despite introducing highly technical terms, this is a clear-cut and comprehensible explanation on the basics of weather radar. Thank you very much for this video!
Thank you SO much, Chris!! I'm a Skywarn spotter hopeful (Maybe next year, they don't offer them near the Lapeer area!), and really enjoy going on livestreamed tornado chases here on RUclips. Sometimes I get lost when the chasers start talking about things like inflow, bow echos, rear flanks and all that stuff. Now I have an idea what they're actually talking about and I can follow along better. Thank you for taking the time to make a very understandable video. Who knows, maybe I'll see ya out there someday!
Lapeer is in the area that the Detroit/Pontiac (DTX) office is responsible for. Lucky for you, they have one remaining Skywarn training webinar this year! Check out www.weather.gov/dtx/SkywarnWebinar (And if you don’t read this in time, there is also the on-demand online program available. See www.weather.gov/SKYWARN )
Thank you thank you thank you for this! Recently I’ve become highly obsessed with watching the weather, understanding the radar, and how to identify potential deadly storms. I’ve become so intrigued that I’m officially taking steps into studying meteorology. This video was highly informative and cleared up a lot of questions I have. Awesome job!
This is one of my favorite videos on RUclips- I’ve probably watched it 15X’s now. With each time I watch it I’m still learning something new from you. Thank you for taking the time to make this video and doing such a great job at explaining things.
I took a weather spotting class put on by the NWS several years ago. Lots of good info here and a good refresher for what I learned then. The correlation coefficient is a new one for me. I'll have to look at it on the storm we're supposed to get tomorrow. So timing is good for the algorithm to put this video in my feee
Not even joking. I watched this full video and immediately opened my radar scope pro app and found a water spout in the Gulf of Mexico not even 2 minutes after finishing this video using the information you taught me.
Man, this was awesome...so informative. I learned a lot. Thank you. Ive been a weather nut since I was a kid. I'm 54 now and just learned more about RADAR in 30 minutes and 18 seconds than I have in 45 years. Stay safe out there! You storm chasers are invaluable!
I live in Grand Rapids, and watched that last storm on Radarscope understanding none of it... This was amazing to get to see something I saw in real time explained so well and easily to understand!
Dang. That was very informative. My little brother absolutely loves tornadoes, but I've never realized what he actually means when he talks about, lets say, a hook. Thank you for this. I'm not thinking of going into the field of storm chasing, but I'm glad I know more about radar :)
Oh the wonders of RUclips pushing random videos to me. I'm an amateur meteorologist, I mostly just study in my own time and I'm very much so self-taught in what I'm aware of with weather and what goes on. While much of what you talked about in this video I actually taught myself how to read in a radar, I did take away one new thing that I'll have to poke around with in GR2Analyst later which was that Coefficient Radar. I hadn't actually looked at those before, mostly focused on Reflectivity and Velocity, but I also took a liking to NROT in situations where there is tornadic thunderstorms in the area. Having lived in the DFW metroplex all my life, and going through the March, 28 2000 tornadoes... I kickstarted my learning from then on to read a radar, how it works, and see what signs to look for. Honestly, that's probably been the best decisions I've done because now I can, for the most part, accurately tell what storms are doing right from home using the NEXRAD Level 2 data I can access. It's been a tremendous help to see what storms are doing, possible points of rotation, and any possible tight rotations that may occur in storms. One could say I learned out of necessity and really, that's true for me. I use my knowledge to also let other people know in case something is heading their way, well in advance of possible warnings that may spring up just so they are aware of what's coming. Oh, one other thing I can take away from this video was Derecho. To be fair, I never heard that term until now, so that's new. I knew squall lines and bow echoes could last a while, but I've never seen any that could last for days, or if I had, I didn't know there was a specific term for it. So that's new, something I'll have to remember for the future.
This video has helped me a lot in the last two years. I live in Colorado and this knowledge has helped me find where a tornado could form in the case of a tornado watch, or where one has formed in the case of a warning. We have large counties out here so a tornado could be on top of my town or 50 miles to the east, so it’s really useful in keeping me and my family calm in those situations and figure out if the tornado is near us.
RUclips is amazing sometimes. Here is a small channel that has like 10 videos, uploads about once a year. But this video is so well explained and prepared, it could be from one of the big "science channels", well done!
Thank you for this video. I work outdoors at night and I'm constantly checking radar when a storm is moving in, wondering if I should end my survey or not. This info will help me out a lot in the future.
Great video! Very educational. I know this is USA focused but I feel obliged to mention as a forgotten southern hemisphere inhabitant that the directions for cyclonic and anticyclone rotation are reversed south of the equator.
Very instructive video. I've been a consumer of ground based WSR but also airborne weather radar. It's been a 30 year learning curve. When aircrews examine weather they often scan down and need to differentiate weather returns from ground returns. Lots of formulas and rules of thumb. When approaching a line of WX most crews will do a calibration check of the system. If I'm over Iowa and approaching a line of weather to the west, I'll set the tilt to -8.5 degrees (the beam width is 1.5 degrees). If the local elevation is 1K' and I'm at 30K' I'll expect red returns at 29 miles (the ground). If it doesn't match, we make a note of that and write it up. We include that adjustment in our interpretations. Sometimes the tilt is too high or low, other times the red return starts at 25 miles on the left and goes to 35 miles on the right- a skewed sweep. We don't have CC or Doppler capability that's as sophisticated as the ground-based systems but we work with controllers, the company meteorologists and reports from other flights and make it work. Great video!
What is the app you were using while chasing? What are your favorite (accurate) weather apps? Android prefered but iOs is okay.
I use RadarScope Pro and (to a lesser degree) GRLevel3 in the field. I don’t use weather apps; instead I look at model data and soundings. I’m old school.
Was just about to ask that
@@watchchrischase Thanks!
This guy is not the end-all-be-all to weather radar LOL some guy may say "Barney and Friends special super happy radar app" is the most accurate just make sure you don't argue with people and say that hey this dude on this RUclips channel said this was the most accurate one so this is the one you should use LOL double check everything in your life and once you've double-checked it.. double-check it again I'm just saying I'm reminding myself as well why I'm letting you know this stuff may sound fantastic you know RUclips video but bomb in reality I'm not saying this guy is but just be aware I know when The Weather Channel 9 times out of 10 shows the most horrible spot on a weather radar that indeed when it comes across where I live it is the most horrible spot with the weather that comes across LOL remember that
@@Glory_inthe_3rd77 .....can you use punctuation and make some kind of sense? That would be great.
I honestly feel like this video should be played in schools. That alone would save so many lives and help people be more prepared.
Normally I would agree, but they can't even teach cursive writing now! There's no way this is staying in their brains.
It will stay in my brain and I'm 12.
Btw I'm a weather nerd 😄😄😄
@@Wes4Trumpthey don’t try to. I’m 23 and when I went to school they didn’t offer any cursive classes or anything I learned on my own. I’m not exactly sure why this is but a lot of classes that would have to do with being independent as an adult aren’t taught anymore. They don’t even teach you how to do taxes or write a check.
@@LayneDanielfishing Same
Years of staring at my weather radar thinking I knew what I was looking at, cleared up in 30 minutes. Much appriciated!
L.O.L
Man, incredible work. I actually think this is on par with RUclips greats like Hank and Skip, minus some gnarly tornado footage and ukelele. Persistence...
Maybe even better, with all those animations.
Yes
True
Wow. Loved the video. You should teach a class on this topic. My and me been to TOM SKILLINGS Tornado seminar in the summer. Northen Illinois COLLEGE OF LAKE COUNTY.
Forgot Ryan Hall though he does forecasts instead of explanations
-Spends 30 minutes watching an interesting video about radar and windy bois.
-Is now a self-proclaimed pro windy boi spotter.
-Will use this at some point in the future to impress whoever dares listen.
Pro tip: you can head over to www.weather.gov/skywarn and become an official windy boi spotter. Much more impressive.
@@watchchrischase
🙌🏻 Yes! Super fun to do-just be sure to start looking for classes in Feb/March, as they’re usually in early spring and then that’s it!
@@watchchrischase Thank you for this. I have left a reminder to look early next year for classes near me.
@@obenheimer78you don’t have to take it in your county and in some places it is still available online :)
I haven’t ever seen a windy boi :( but I’ll keep trying :)
“Green is greeting the Radar, Red is running from radar.”
That’s velocity
Green = GAINING, Red = RETREATING is my version
my velocity version
green: heyy come in!
red: GET THE HELL OUT!!!!
This was the greatest explanation I have found yet in understanding the radar and how to read it. I've been a certified spotter and am an avid chaser and I have been looking for something like this for a few years and finding bits and pieces I managed to put pieces together like a puzzle but your video has it all out together with very good explanation!
Thank you so much for this video!!
YES!!!! I was just BLOWN AWAY by how succinctly he explains the most important ways of interpreting Radar Scope. I will come back to this video and again!
@Rob Kercheval - you took the words right out of my mouth. Now I need to watch it about 5-10 times drive it all home. Will make my watching chasers today 4/22/22 more interesting. Thanks @Watch Chris Chase
@@johnps30
Always a good thing to get it down and understand it and never hurts to come back periodically for reference or a refresher!!
I'll second that Rob. I am just a weather enthusiast/nerd, but I very much appreciated this simple, accurate and comprehensive lesson in how to read what radar indicates. One of the best explanations I've seen to date. Thank you for this installment, I feel I understand it quite well now.
And to all you brave storm chasers/spotters out there.... please be careful and your work is deeply appreciated!
I’ve been using RadarPro for years and I never knew that about the correlation coefficient. I only use about 5 or 6 of the maps.
im only 12 but that does not mean I cant be fascinated by this, great job man, keep up the good work
meteorology is super fascinating! Weather is so complex, & so is the technology that observes it. Delve deeper into it, you won't be disappointed
suprisingly im only 11, and i love it to
same but I’m already using RadarScope and I’m trying to figure out how to use Dual Pol
I’m 14 and want to be a meteorologist:)
@RCBones I’ve been interested since a really bad hail storm when I was three
Living in Oklahoma City our meteorologists often launch into conversations on the air concerning correlation coefficient and other products used to analyze their radar data. So I’ve been studying on my own to understand this concept. Thank you for a great video of the basics. We know the value of good storm chasers, also. Early warning saves lives.
I’ve seen this! I watch my fair share of KFOR when I’m out there on chases. WAAAY different from Detroit-area severe coverage. You guys have chase choppers, too-crazy!
@@watchchrischase Oklahoma tends to have so many severe storms and tornados. Poor moore oklahoma IIRC has taken two direct hits from large tornadoes in the last 50 years.
OKC probably takes it to the next level, but here in Springfield, MO, I love watching chief meteorologist Ron Hearst on KY3 (especially when he launches his Facebook Live streams during severe weather). He's clearly a passionate weather geek and will go on for a solid hour-plus analyzing the various products in real-time and showing bow echoes and hook echoes and all kinds of things--it's incredibly educational! Never lived anywhere before that had regular severe weather, so it's been fun to see it in action so regularly!
@@alphamaccao5224try 4! Two 5's and two 4's
This, without a doubt, is the best explanation of how to read/understand basic weather radar data that i've ever seen. Despite years of casually looking at weather radar every time a thunderstorm rolls through my area in NW Ohio, I have always felt like I was "slacking" in my role as a "Midwestern Dad/Husband"...I have always struggled to gather the weather information I needed by simply stepping outside to watch the impending storm front like some ancient soothsayer clad only in a white t-shirt, khaki cargo shorts, and ankle socks.
For the first time in my life, I now have the confidence needed to pull up the NEXRAD images and tell my wife and children, "Ope... uh... Honey!.. uhhh.. we might want to go down to the basement. The radar is looking pretty nasty and its almost on top of us."
Seriously though... Excellent job and thank you for making such an informative vid!
Yeah it’s a huge help. Radar is still confusing cause it’s just pixelated random colors but this helps a ton. I’ve already pointed out a supercell just south of me before it got severe warned. I’ve also watched a ton of crazy ugly storms recently. Today was pretty crazy. Tons of giant blobs of supercells mushed together and some huge tornado warnings in Canada. I learned that Canada issues really big and oddly shaped tornado warnings today. This stuff is fun. I seriously wish the high school had a class on this I could take but they don’t. Photography is the only interesting thing they got but I know they’ll ruin that and make it about instagram or some junk. Whatever I can still learn by myself slowly and I’m still having a blast looking at radar and watching storms.
Man, I really hope I live long enough to see large deployments of phased array radars. The WSR-88D has been a work horse and dualpol has done so much to improve it, but we are really at the limits of what it can do. There is so much potential with phased arrays with beam stearing and site to site data interpretation. I really want to see it in action.
The history of meteorology has pretty much developed alongside advancements of radio technology, electrical engineering and meteorology collaborating closely to identify efficient ways to interpret the signals into useful information.
With the advancement and cost reductions we are seeing now in phased arrays, we are putting them in cell towers on every street corner now, it seems like an obvious and exciting next technology for weather use.
"The weatherman uses 5G deathbeams to make the weather!" Good for meteorology, and fun for the crazies, too!
As long as we're relying on a government agency using government funds, I don't think that will happen. 😞 If it doesn't make them money or help win a war, I doubt they'll want to spend the money on it.
I certainly hope we get to see something like the advanced technology demonstrator installed as the 88D's successor ruclips.net/video/Xso-P0UAE88/видео.html
I love that the chasers used mobile Arrays in the new Twisters movie. I didn’t even realize that’s what that was until this video and some training I took. I agree, the WSR-88D is a workhorse and has more than served its purpose but it’s time to really improve and move on.
As per usual the military gets it right first lol
9:22 For optical doppler effects, it is called red shift and blue shift, where red shift means moving away, and blue shift means moving toward. This would help explain why red means moving away, but it is a little inconsistent with green/blue both meaning moving towards.
I'll add, that for color deficient folks like me it would be a lot easier if the blue shift was displayed as blue. Much easier for us to differentiate red from blue, than red from green.
Redshifting only for crazy stuff like galaxies moving or the universe expanding. Like andromeda. It’s supposed to be slightly blueshifted cause it’s speeding towards us. Still looks pretty reed though.
@@13_cmi no. anything moving away from you, no matter how slowly, is red shifted.
@@13_cmi It's also technically redshifting when sound waves become lower frequency when moving away from you, as in the Doppler effect.
Radarscope has a color palette called balance for the Velocity bucket. What exactly is that? Its always white.. so i assume it just means incoming and outgoing MPH winds neutralizing each other to zeroish?
A couple months ago, a tornado would drop at around midnight here in Georgia. My stepdad, who’s lived in Georgia his whole life, immediately put my family and I in a closet (which made me nervous considering we couldn’t fit in the storm closet so he put us in the master closet, which is one wall away from the outside) and turned on the TV while we hid away. He watched the news the whole time, never coming to check on us once. At some point, he gave us the okay sign. My mom got super mad at him, and I was mainly shook and confused on how he managed to stay so calm as an EF4 tornado was about 5 miles from us. It was my first tornado experience so I have my reason to be afraid, I’m very scared of extreme weather. But seeing this video makes me happy because I can watch and understand with him now. I can interpret if a tornado will drop or is coming towards us, and that makes me relieved. Thanks man, you just made my day and/or my future ten times easier.
Holy cow! Glad you’re all alright!
Thank you so much for this. We live in a tiny town in Mississippi, and with the severe weather we get here and not having local weather, I wanted to be able to read a radar for myself. You might have single-handedly saved my fiance and I haha.
hot Coffee?
I wonder how many lives this has saved in the three years this video has been up. Great explaination.
the tornado example used at 23:36 was (i think) the closest tornado to my house. the tornado first touched down at the intersection of i-35 and walnut hill ln at around 9pm (about 2 miles from my house). as it progressed, it got as close as 1.5 miles from where i live. luckily we experienced no damage. thomas jefferson high school and the elementary school one of my friends went to was completely destroyed.
Holy cow, I’m glad you’re ok! I’m in and around the DFW area a lot, and I remember following it live as it unfolded. I remember thinking “I know right where that is!” as the coverage aired. It’s an eerie feeling. Very happy you got by unscathed.
I also live around that area by I-35 and walnut hill. We got struck directly by the tornado. Luckily, my family wasn’t at home at the time as we were on the way back home from the state fair. But when we came back, it was pure chaos and my dog was scared as he had hid inside the house when the tornado went over the neighborhood. We lost power for 3 weeks until service was restored. It’s a weird feeling how those moments where my neighborhood was being destroyed was described in full detail from a meteorologists perspective. I don’t go to school in that neighborhood, but lots of my friends said that they got transferred over from the Cary middle school and Thomas Jefferson high school. To this day, they’re still in process of reconstruction and are expected to have the school open by the 22-23 school year. Also, I had a friend called Angel in elementary school, is that you Angel??
This is the most beautiful, elegant, comprehensive, detailed yet broad explanation of any topic I have ever heard in my life.
This is a very valuable lesson! We rarely get supercell tornadoes in Europe, but they do happen. I have often seen a hook echo in the reflectivity pattern over Germany and Poland, sometimes bringing EF1-2 tornadoes. Now I know for sure when to warn my friend and family to stay indoors :)
23:20 you covered the "hook echo" and great job describing it. between the hook echo and "debris void" it have personally identified radar indicated rotation or radar indicated tornadoes before the local meteorologists. and even at times the local meteorologists are just relying information to the public from the NWS. But after 30 years of looking at radar base reflectivity, composite reflectivity and radial velocity. I can safely assure people when there is and isn't a tornado.
The crazy thing about tornadic weather, is the rapid building, onset and short-lived power that a scattered thunderstorm can have. I have had people believe that they are completely random. I have people that believe that the chances of being hit in a city are imposible. Not to mention the number of people that have never seen one where safety takes a long hike and the spectacle curiosity of a tornado takes over.
There are people where I live that have not seen a tornado for 20+ years. People born in that time that know nothing of what can happen to you and your family. the entirety of the east coast and the gulf has people in their single lifetimes have several small hurricanes or tropical storms ravage their homes and neighborhoods. With a catastrophic storm destroying entire cities at least once in their lifetime.
Your chances of dying to a hurricane or tropical storm are greater than dying to a tornado. And while we are at it your chances of dying from everyday activities such as eating, driving, walking, you name it are so great your would think that three times in a calendar year you would die in a car accident.
Very clear and precise! Your skills in explaining reflect and correlate your skills in the field. Thanks for taking the time to teach people like me.
Thanks Rick! Glad you liked it!
@watchchrischase7853 This video helped me understand Radar better, appreciate it.
Makes Radar Scope more useful of an app with this knowledge.
Just found this and WOW! THANK YOU! I was transplanted to Iowa after 50 years growing up in So CA ...and I've been mystified but fascinated by the storm coverage.
I wish I would've come across this earlier. You made this crystal clear as an aspiring meteorologist 👍🏾
Best wishes for you on your journey! How exciting that you know what you want to do in life. ⛈🌪☀️
This was the most straightforward and easily understood meteorological video I've come across. I've always been fascinated by severe weather, and I always aced science classes, but I'm still over here feelin' 🥴🤯 listening to many videos dubbed "basic" in content. 😅 thank you for such a clear and concise explanation! This was SO helpful! 💯🙏
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to tell people about weak and brief tornadoes being spawned in a derecho or other converging storms. I’ve witnessed them so many times! But people just don’t believe it to be true 🙄. Very informative video as I also use the same techniques as you showed others in this video. Well done sir! Stay safe and chase on 😬
The way you explain how to read radar is so easy and simple to understand! I want to be a storm chaser later on in life, and this is honestly getting me there. But, I am NOT going out there till I know storm chaser safety, but at least I know how to read the basic of radar. Thank you for this video, it has helped me so much, and the next time a severe thunderstorm is hurling towards me, I'm going to immediately check reflectivity, velocity, and CC. If I see a hook echo, along with red moving away from green in a coupling, and I see a debris ball, I'll know there's a strong tornado lofting debris! If not, then I'm probably fine. (:
Thank you. I've always been on edge and fighting off panic attacks everytime something happened because I didn't understand. Now I do. Thank you very much. Got a storm blowing through tonight but now I understand what Im looking at and have prepared accordingly.
So you never checked local weather? You know you don't have to interpret radar yourself???
@@gxlorp not everyone trusts authority
I don't know if you're still reading comments in 2024, but this is the BEST video on how to read a radar I've seen. I've watched several, and on one I almost fell asleep, but this one is great. You have the gift of teaching, I think. Romans 10:8-13; John 3:16-21
I still am! Thanks a ton, I’m glad you like it.
Searched this out of curiosity. You explained it well and I learned more than needed. Great video!
This is awesome, love how informative this is. I'd love to see a series on this kind of stuff.
Thanks for this clear and concise explanation of Doppler radar products and their application in evaluating storm features! This is the first season I've seen CC used during outbreak monitoring livestreams, and while quickly learning to recognize a debris signature, knowing more about the hows and whys of CC imaging makes it much easier to answer Hubby Normal's questions about what's going on with approaching storms. 😀👍
I'm just getting into storm chasing and spotting, Ive always loved watching tornadoes and thunderstorms. For quite a while now I've been using Storm Hunter WX but have recently reached out to friends to find other apps to use. Radarscope, Omega Radar, GR2 were all recommended.
Thank you for making this video its helped me greatly with better understanding not just how to read the radar but also overall weather. Keep up the amazing work and be safe out there!
Thanks Russ! Maybe I’ll see you out there!
I have lived in Central Illinois for the last 43 years. The one echo that always scares me is the one that looks like a capital S or imagine what a Sea Horse looks like. Those are the ones that send me seeking shelter and worrying about losing our home.
Yikes yeah. S bends are horrifying, that's some SIGNIFICANT rotation to make a whole line bend like that.
Im in central Illinois and have had many tornadoes and derachos but not very many strong tornadoes
🙌🏻 This video is *PURE GOLD!!* I can’t believe that a 30 minute video gives such a *FABULOUS* explanation of the most vital aspects of Radar Scope & understanding severe storms! Saving this!! *THANK YOU, CHRIS!* 🌪 ⛈
Welcome!
Thank you so much for this video. It really gave me the tools to put my mind at ease during thunderstorms! If I can understand something better I can be less afraid of it
The more you learn and do, the better you’ll become at understanding how storms work and how to better yourself at reading radar. Stay safe.
"We fear what we do not understand." It's human nature.
Savy you said it right there. Storms are nothing to be scare of if we know things and are prepared when they do occur. This video proves that. You will be less afraid of it now. When a tornado is confirmed by human eyes then it time to be concerned.
Thank you so much for explaining the color usage on radar screens. I had always assumed that red was bad storms. I'm starting to learn now the color usage on storm inflow and outflow now.
Love this. I have been looking for something like this after attending a Skywarn class. I am a weather nut but never really completely understood how to read a radar.
You kept my 9 year old grandson enthrawled!!! ... and he is going into 5th grade this next school year. He already is doing 7th and 8th grade math problems... wow, he is really interested in the math behind the radars, dopler, and wind vectors!
This was great. I think this knowledge should be taught more often in Tornado country. I just went most of my life assuming red bad and green is wet.
I have been a spotter for over 20 years and have done a little bit of chasing along with ham radio Reporting think this is an excellent presentation. Thank you for taking the time. I will share this with every new spotter
Thanks, fellow Chris! Be safe out there.
As a Florida native that has lived through Andrew and many others I find the summer weather here in SE/Central Michigan to be rather interesting. Thank you for this awesome presentation.
Dude, this was a masterclass explanation, got me from noob to pro in 30 minutes. Thank you, subscribed, and keep posting such insanely good content. Worthy of a TED presentation man, amazing work!
Great easy and understandable explanation, thank you. I run a fire lookout on the mogollon rim, and have been trying to get a better understanding of radar to possibly help the crews on the ground stay safer. The crews try and stay on a fire for as long as possible before a storm gets too close and they have to ride it out in their vehicles. If you could do a video explaining radar and monsoons for those of us out west that would be amazing! You touched a bit on micro bursts and straight line winds in this video, but I feel there is so much more I should learn to be able to read a monsoon better.
When I saw Gran Turismo 7 having a weather radar with this kind of color coding, I knew I had to find this video. Thank you
Chris, this was exactly what I was looking for, and you really make some incredible videos. I noticed you don't have any recent vids, but I really hope you make some more because you are really good. Thanks for the knowledge!
Thanks Eric! I still need to finish a June tornado video I’ve been procrastinating since... last June. And 2022 severe season is right around the corner. Check back soon, and thanks again!
@@watchchrischase Awesome! Glad to hear it, I'll absolutely check back in the future. I'm excited for the 2022 season and hope its a good one for ya.
The first time i had seen a reflectivity sourced debris ball was with the el reno tornado which showed a black dot right above the hook echo and just starting to learn all of this i had no idea why it did that as i knew very little about reflectivity's ability to coincide with the correlation coefficient's debris ball or "hole" but after doing more research and watching your video it makes so much more sense ontop of researching both of the Moore Oklahoma ef-5's and the joplin ef-5 reflectivity, velocity, base velocity and the correlation coefficient using a quad pane radar setup so i greatly appreciate you doing this especially as an amature storm chaser it helps me understand the situations i put myself in so i can help others and remain safe at the same time
I enjoyed your lovely presentation -- it taught me a few things about weather radar I didn't quite understand before!
The dual-polarization tech used in today's NEXRAD installations came from Baron Weather (then called Baron Services) in Huntsville, Alabama. . The company was created by meteorologist Bob Baron after the horrible November 15, 1989 tornado that injured several hundred and killed 21 victims as it tore along Airport Road during afternoon rush.
If you're not familiar with Baron, you might be familiar with one of their major products: VIPIR, the 3-D weather visualization system used by a whole bunch of TV stations and other entities across the US.
SUPERB tutorial. I appreciate the RadarScope use too..came across it and love it, despite no professional knowledge.
Was ~1 mile from path of tornado in Dallas in 2019.
My dude, this is the best weather/chaser vid I have ever seen. I am utterly fascinated by weather and storms. Whenever a storm moves in my area I'm all over it! However, I never _really_ understood how to read the radar. Thank you so so much for this vid! I have learned *so* much in a rather short amount of time. I'm definitely subbing, and I can't wait to see what you'll do next!
I have been a ham radio operator for almost a year and with this storm season have gotten into the SKYWARN and storm spitting type stuff. This video really helped me understand radar, thanks so much!
Thank you so much for this comment!! I forgot all about ham radios, but you just reigniting my interest. I just learned it’s not too hard getting a license and getting started. I’m super excited about this, and I’m definitely going to do it! Maybe I’ll catch you around! 📻
Just a follow up: Thanks to you, Jared, my 75 year old dad is testing for his ham license this Thursday. He first got his license as a 12 year old kid, and he’s been having so much fun revisiting all of this!! I am absolutely thrilled. He wants to join a ham radio club as well and already found one. I am half way through my course, and this is something my dad and I will be able to do together. It’s a new language to me, but I’m having fun (I enjoy a challenge!). I have a good friend who is determined to get his license this summer. We will all get our technician, immediately followed by the general license. Anyway, just wanted you to know! Thanks again for your comment! 😊
@@PeaceIsYeshua Hey that’s so cool!! Best of luck to your dad, friend, and yourself! I’m sure it’ll be a blast for y’all.
KI5JXV
@@JaredCockrum
Thank you so much!! I wrote down your call sign-we will look for you!! 😊
Thank you for this awesome video! As a pilot and flight instructor it's always great to learn something new about weather and weather tools.
I saw a funnel come out of a cloud and then retract once over Arlington, TX. That's as close as I ever want to get to a tornado, thanks!
This needs to be taught in grade schools
Kids can't read cursive today, but try and teach this? Lol. I know what you mean, but they don't teach hardly anything a child will need in the real world now.
It is lol back in like seventh grade I remember taking a science class and they talked about all this stuff and more but being not even a teenager yet I didn’t care nor remember so here I am learning it again
I do agree
Agreed 😂
I want to move to Kansas to get away from California, I'm glad you made this video. You taught me how to read Radar maps and what to look for.
I have been into weather for 10 years, and this is by far the most accurate radar video I have ever seen. Super well done, and a great introduction to weather! Great job!
This was and still is an AMAZING explanation of the key factors that go into weather radar. FANTASTIC job!!
Thanks! I’m glad you like it.
I would love to see some sort of practice sets with real radar data so we can test our skills at reading the various products to put together a coherent picture of a storm. Also, an explanation of dual polarization would be great too!
event after taking aviation weather classes, as a pilot this is such valuable information for me to understand on an even better level now and how it will help me flight plan in the future! thank you so much for this video!!
This video is EXTREMELY helpful. Thank you! We've been in Kansas for almost three years now and have experienced one tornado a few miles from our house. I've now taken a deep dive into understanding how all of this works to be better prepared now that I live in tornado alley.
Amazing prefectly detailed video! Great job! ⛈️🌪️
Derecho is a new term to me. It explains a lot about how (as an airline pilot) we used to circumnavigate (usually the northern end of) 'waves' of storms sweeping west to east across KORD and land in the better weather between them. Thank goodness for experienced ATC personnel in Chicago and our own weather radar on board.
I would recommend the Iowa derecho of 2020. I remember driving home from work looking at the damage.
I have a bird that tells me when a tornado is coming
Can I borrow it
We clone this persons bird
#birdswithjobs
Best video on RUclips of all time. Seriously. I was just driving home yesterday wishing there was a storm meteorology class for the layman. I had about 8 or 9 “Ohhhhh…” moments where something so simple finally made sense. THANK YOU! Please please do more videos just like this. You must have been a 6th grade science teacher in a past life. Every single thing you said made perfect sense. Amazing.
Thanks! I’m glad you liked it. I don’t know if I was ever a science teacher in a past life, but I did study it in college!
What if a tornado hits the radar
Then it's up to ground truth from law enforcement, storms spotters, etc
Satalites: wsg we got live radars and more@@xanderjaymez8188
It scans faster for a bit
They’ll be the first to know
There are many radar across the ground, so I’m sure at least one of them would catch the storm
Thank you for doing a splendid job of acquainting people ('spotters') to radar, WCC.
Very well explained (yes, am a chaser since '08), so that just about anyone can grasp just what signatures means.
I'd recommend this video to those involved in spotting with your local Emergency Manager, to watch this video again and again, so as to keep this info fresh and completely understood.
Thanks MRG! Stay safe out there.
watching this for a class. I am an Emergency Management student
Thanks for the video, I want to be a storm chaser when I grow up, so I'm gathering all the knowledge I can before I do, this was very helpful recognizing clear indications on radars, the wind bow was very useful for me currently, a lot of them will come in every now and then, and they can break a lot of things.
This is exactly the video I wanted but never thought I would find.
Do you think you could do a video on how infrastructure interferes with weather? When I was in college the very large highway nearby always seemed to break up storms like they were hitting a wall. If they went over the highway I knew it was really really bad.
Yeah id like this guy to write a book on everything weather he knows - id easily pay a few hundred for a good book that covers it all. Right now im assembling a 1000 pg pdf from random articles found online but I want a good book. I have weather dummies now and its not bad but I want supplement
This is definitely the best guide to radar I have seen. I would definitely recommend this to someone looking for a radar guide video that isn't super confusing. You explained things verry well and easy to understand. Good job and I am subscribed now because of this video.
Can you please do a video on dual polarization.... please
However thank you for this Radar reflectivity interpretation...I added knowledge 👍
+1 on dual-pol. Would like to get some info on some of the precip products, as well as more technical stuff like spectrum width and info like the different VCPs and whatnot.
I'm going to watch this repeatedly to soak in as much as I can, because having ADHD sucks. It takes massive amounts of repetition for most knowledget to stick thanks to a horrible working memory. BUT... hyperfixations means that my interest in this will let me go over it a few dozen times. I know more than I did when I started, and that's a victory. :) Living in California means storm chasing is off the table, but I've loved storms since I was a little kid. Thanks for breaking this down for us idiots to understand the concepts and build on them. :)
0:01, Bois there is the 69
nice
Nice
Watched this video while reviewing for my synoptic meteorology final exams here in the Philippines... Despite introducing highly technical terms, this is a clear-cut and comprehensible explanation on the basics of weather radar. Thank you very much for this video!
Thank you SO much, Chris!! I'm a Skywarn spotter hopeful (Maybe next year, they don't offer them near the Lapeer area!), and really enjoy going on livestreamed tornado chases here on RUclips. Sometimes I get lost when the chasers start talking about things like inflow, bow echos, rear flanks and all that stuff. Now I have an idea what they're actually talking about and I can follow along better. Thank you for taking the time to make a very understandable video. Who knows, maybe I'll see ya out there someday!
Lapeer is in the area that the Detroit/Pontiac (DTX) office is responsible for. Lucky for you, they have one remaining Skywarn training webinar this year! Check out www.weather.gov/dtx/SkywarnWebinar
(And if you don’t read this in time, there is also the on-demand online program available. See www.weather.gov/SKYWARN )
@@watchchrischase Oh nice, thank you! I'll check it out!
Thank you thank you thank you for this! Recently I’ve become highly obsessed with watching the weather, understanding the radar, and how to identify potential deadly storms. I’ve become so intrigued that I’m officially taking steps into studying meteorology.
This video was highly informative and cleared up a lot of questions I have. Awesome job!
I've owned a radar app for years and apparently never knew how to read it till today. Thank you so much.
This is one of my favorite videos on RUclips- I’ve probably watched it 15X’s now. With each time I watch it I’m still learning something new from you. Thank you for taking the time to make this video and doing such a great job at explaining things.
Aw shucks, thank you!
Great video! I’m a RadarScope loyalist. This helped me learn new things I can apply as we live in a high risk tornado area.
This is by far the most informational and clear radar video I've ever seen. Thank you!
I took a weather spotting class put on by the NWS several years ago. Lots of good info here and a good refresher for what I learned then. The correlation coefficient is a new one for me. I'll have to look at it on the storm we're supposed to get tomorrow. So timing is good for the algorithm to put this video in my feee
Man, it's crazy the amount of technology and advancements we've made in the last century.
I'm starting college soon to get my degree to become an anchorwoman and this video has helped me understand radars a whole lot better!
This video was a life saver - without it I would not have been able to explain Weather Radar to my 6th grade class. Thank you!
Not even joking. I watched this full video and immediately opened my radar scope pro app and found a water spout in the Gulf of Mexico not even 2 minutes after finishing this video using the information you taught me.
Man, this was awesome...so informative. I learned a lot. Thank you. Ive been a weather nut since I was a kid. I'm 54 now and just learned more about RADAR in 30 minutes and 18 seconds than I have in 45 years. Stay safe out there! You storm chasers are invaluable!
I live in Grand Rapids, and watched that last storm on Radarscope understanding none of it... This was amazing to get to see something I saw in real time explained so well and easily to understand!
Hi fellow Michigander! Are you talking about the storms that dropped the tornadoes in southwestern lower Michigan?
@@watchchrischase Yes!
I chased the Branch County EF-2 that day. Video here if you’re interested: ruclips.net/video/L8ctjcjFsN0/видео.html
Dang. That was very informative. My little brother absolutely loves tornadoes, but I've never realized what he actually means when he talks about, lets say, a hook. Thank you for this. I'm not thinking of going into the field of storm chasing, but I'm glad I know more about radar :)
Just starting to learn about Doppler. Thanks for making this video to help teach future chasers
Oh the wonders of RUclips pushing random videos to me. I'm an amateur meteorologist, I mostly just study in my own time and I'm very much so self-taught in what I'm aware of with weather and what goes on. While much of what you talked about in this video I actually taught myself how to read in a radar, I did take away one new thing that I'll have to poke around with in GR2Analyst later which was that Coefficient Radar. I hadn't actually looked at those before, mostly focused on Reflectivity and Velocity, but I also took a liking to NROT in situations where there is tornadic thunderstorms in the area.
Having lived in the DFW metroplex all my life, and going through the March, 28 2000 tornadoes... I kickstarted my learning from then on to read a radar, how it works, and see what signs to look for. Honestly, that's probably been the best decisions I've done because now I can, for the most part, accurately tell what storms are doing right from home using the NEXRAD Level 2 data I can access. It's been a tremendous help to see what storms are doing, possible points of rotation, and any possible tight rotations that may occur in storms. One could say I learned out of necessity and really, that's true for me. I use my knowledge to also let other people know in case something is heading their way, well in advance of possible warnings that may spring up just so they are aware of what's coming.
Oh, one other thing I can take away from this video was Derecho. To be fair, I never heard that term until now, so that's new. I knew squall lines and bow echoes could last a while, but I've never seen any that could last for days, or if I had, I didn't know there was a specific term for it. So that's new, something I'll have to remember for the future.
Man, I’ve watched this video probably 100 times. You HAVE to do some more like it someday.
Workin’ on it!
You’re a talented educator - my non-stem brain followed it all! Thanks so much!!
Was lucky to get recommended this video on a day with a bit of a storm-- super interesting to go check it out as you went along! Very helpful!
I never knew I needed to learn how to read radar, but I'm glad I did. Well done, sir. 🍻
This video has helped me a lot in the last two years. I live in Colorado and this knowledge has helped me find where a tornado could form in the case of a tornado watch, or where one has formed in the case of a warning. We have large counties out here so a tornado could be on top of my town or 50 miles to the east, so it’s really useful in keeping me and my family calm in those situations and figure out if the tornado is near us.
I’m glad you liked it! I’ve chased Colorado before. Weld County has some tornado magic going on.
Great work! As an amateur sailor I will definitively use the knowledge you put in this video♥️
…although there are no tornadoes in Poland
Dude, one of the best radar intro vids out there.
THIS is what YT was buikt for!
RUclips is amazing sometimes. Here is a small channel that has like 10 videos, uploads about once a year. But this video is so well explained and prepared, it could be from one of the big "science channels", well done!
I’ve always found tornados interesting, I’ve always seen radar but never knew how to use it. This video helped a lot.
Thank you for this video. I work outdoors at night and I'm constantly checking radar when a storm is moving in, wondering if I should end my survey or not. This info will help me out a lot in the future.
Great video! Very educational. I know this is USA focused but I feel obliged to mention as a forgotten southern hemisphere inhabitant that the directions for cyclonic and anticyclone rotation are reversed south of the equator.
They are! And yes, when I made this, I didn’t expect it to take off the way it did. You Southern Hemisphere residents are not forgotten!
Very instructive video. I've been a consumer of ground based WSR but also airborne weather radar. It's been a 30 year learning curve. When aircrews examine weather they often scan down and need to differentiate weather returns from ground returns. Lots of formulas and rules of thumb. When approaching a line of WX most crews will do a calibration check of the system. If I'm over Iowa and approaching a line of weather to the west, I'll set the tilt to -8.5 degrees (the beam width is 1.5 degrees). If the local elevation is 1K' and I'm at 30K' I'll expect red returns at 29 miles (the ground). If it doesn't match, we make a note of that and write it up. We include that adjustment in our interpretations. Sometimes the tilt is too high or low, other times the red return starts at 25 miles on the left and goes to 35 miles on the right- a skewed sweep. We don't have CC or Doppler capability that's as sophisticated as the ground-based systems but we work with controllers, the company meteorologists and reports from other flights and make it work. Great video!