9 Weird Things That Have Shown Up On Radar in the U.S. (PHOTOS)

Chris Dolce
Published: March 30,2015




 

1) Monarch Butterfly Migration

(National Weather Service Reno, Nevada)

If you've spent much time watching The Weather Channel, you've probably seen your fair share of radar imagery. We use it to show a variety of conditions across the country from rain and thunderstorms to snow, sleet and freezing rain.
But did you know that this same radar imagery can detect some unusual non-weather features?
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Reno, Nevada, posted to Twitter on March 27, 2015, the radar image above that shows the spring migration of Monarch butterflies. These butterflies were spotted using a differential reflectivity scan, which is typically used to identify different types of precipitation, hail size and tornadic debris. As shown in the example above, it can also identify non-meteorological echoes such as birds and insects. In this case, the NWS says the differential reflectivity shows objects that are much wider than they are taller, or what you would expect from the body type of a butterfly.
On the pages that follow are other unexpected features captured by radar.

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2) South-Central Texas: Bats

Bats flying out of the Bracken Bat Cave north of San Antonio, Texas on Wednesday, March 18, 2015. (Credit: National Weather Service - San Antonio, Texas)

The radar image above, posted to Twitter by the National Weather Service on March 18, 2015, shows a green ring growing out of the red locator dot for a bat cave. As the bats take off in all directions, they pass through the radar beam aloft through several scans, which are reflected back and produce these ring-shaped radar echoes.

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3) Western New York:  Bird Migration

Radar loop shows bird migration on April 12, 2012. Image credit: NOAA

Tom Niziol, winter weather expert at The Weather Channel, captured this radar image of migrating birds in western New York on the evening of April 12, 2012.
Niziol says, "On the animation above I have penciled in what I describe as 'bird front' to outline the leading edge of the bird migration as it heads from the south shores of both Lakes Erie and Ontario across the water just after sunset."
You can read Tom's full article on this subject here.

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4) El Paso, Texas: Departing Train

NWS El Paso captures train leaving on radar.

Watch closely. Now, watch it again. That brief red streak moving to the northwest is actually a train leaving a terminal. The National Weather Service office in El Paso captured it on its radar.
As weather.com meteorologist Jon Erdman explains, "In cases with a warm layer of air just above the surface, and relatively cool air near the surface, Doppler radar can also detect vehicles on an interstate."

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5) Arizona: Bugs 

Credit: National Weather Service Flagstaff, Ariz.

On April 30, 2013, the National Weather Service in Flagstaff, Arizona, grabbed this radar image detecting bugs in the green and blue shadings at the top left. The velocity image on the top right shows that the radar is able to track the direction of movement of these bugs.

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6) Wisconsin: Mayfly Hatch

Image credit: National Weather Service La Crosse, Wis.

Photo of a mayfly. Credit: glerl.noaa.gov

The animated radar image above from the National Weather Service in La Crosse, Wisconsin, shows insects called mayflies hatching on the evening of June 23, 2012.
This hatch is shown by the large burst of green, yellow and orange radar echoes along the Mississippi River near the Minnesota and Wisconsin border. According to the National Weather Service, the mayflies flew in a northerly direction towards the top of the image due to the southerly wind flow that was in place.

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7) North Florida: Military Exercises

Credit: National Weather Service Jacksonville, Fla.

This image from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville, Florida, shows chaff in the narrow bands of green and blue radar echoes. Chaff are small pieces of aluminum which are released by military aircraft for self-defense to avoid radar detection.

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8) California: Springs Fire

Image Credit: Gibson Ridge

On May 2, 2013, the smoke plume from the Springs fire near Camarillo, California, was picked up on radar. The smoke plume shows up in the green and blue shaded radar echoes south-southwest of Camarillo.

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9) Wind Farm Interference

Turbines from the Bulter Ridge wind farm in Wisconsin mess with radar data.
(NWS Milwaukee/Sullivan)

Energy created by wind farms can mess with radar results. The Butler Ridge wind farm west of Milwaukee is one example. According to NWS Milwaukee/Sullivan explains, turbines stretch about 400 feet into the air, and sit within the line of sight of the NWS doppler radar in Jefferson County, Wisconsin.
"A small part of the electromagnetic energy radar beam sent from the radar is reflected back by the rotating turbines," NWS says. "The radar processes this 'returned energy' as an area of precipitation and plots it accordingly on the map," which you can see circled in yellow.
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