Published: July 23,2015
1) Grasshoppers and Beetles
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.
Grasshoppers and beetles detected by radar near the border between Texas and Oklahoma on July 22, 2015.
But did you know that this same radar imagery can detect some unusual non-weather features?The green and yellow radar echoes in this image from July 22, 2015 show grasshoppers and beetles detected by radar near the border between Texas and Oklahoma, according to a tweet sent by the National Weather Service (NWS) in Norman, Oklahoma. Since the radar is very sensitive, you would not see a huge swarm at ground level, the NWS said.
On the pages that follow are other unexpected features captured by radar.
2) Wisconsin: Mayfly Hatch
Mayfly hatch on June 24, 2015.(National Weather Service La Crosse, Wisconsin.)
This radar image sent in a tweet by the National Weather Service (NWS) in La Crosse, Wisconsin, shows insects called mayflies hatching on the evening of June 24, 2015.
The hatch is depicted by the thin line of blue and green radar echoes circled in the middle of the image. It occurred along the Mississippi River near the Minnesota and Wisconsin border. The NWS said that this was one of several hatches in that area in recent days.
3) Traffic on I-40
Memphis radar showing traffic (light blue strips) on I-40 on June 10, 2015.The National Weather Service in Memphis pointed out on June 10, 2015 that its radar was detecting traffic along Interstate 40. In the image above, the two narrow light blue strips highlighted by arrows on I-40 west of Memphis show the traffic the radar was detecting at 5:25 a.m. CDT.
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 detect vehicles on an interstate."
4) Monarch Butterfly Migration
(National Weather Service Reno, Nevada)
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.
5) 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.
6) Western New York: Bird Migration
Radar loop shows bird migration on April 12, 2012. Image credit: NOAATom 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.
7) 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.
This is similar to how radar detected the interstate traffic earlier in this article.
8) Arizona: Bugs
Credit: National Weather Service Flagstaff, Ariz.9) North Florida: Military Exercises
Credit: National Weather Service Jacksonville, Fla.10) California: Springs Fire
Image Credit: Gibson Ridge11) 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.
MORE: Spectacular Cities at Night
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