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| Fox_Weather_News's Blog |
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When I worked with the meteorology department at a television station in Lancaster, severe thunderstorms ripped through the area late one afternoon. Rain pelted the roof of the sturdy, concrete building as if it were cascading bullets. Rumbles of thunder subtly crept into the weather department--the room adjacent to the soundproofed studio. Then, with the 6 PM news in progress, the lights disappeared.
You would have never known watching the news that the backup generator failed. With no light to illuminate the anchors, the news continued. Plenty of pre-recorded stories from reporters played, and video footage looped as the anchors voiced those stories behind the scenes. The meteorologist had his fair share in filling the void created by the anchors not reading the day's news stories on screen. The meteorologist added commentary to his graphics that were playing on television screens like a slideshow presentation. Five minutes after the 6 PM news ended, the backup generator worked flawlessly.
For the ten minutes the meteorologist was at the helm of the newscast, he devoted much of his time to a live image of the Doppler radar for the area.
Doppler radar is extremely useful for identifying the location and intensity of precipitation. The radar works by emitting pulses of energy. This energy will hit objects like raindrops or hail and become scattered. Some of the scattered energy returns to the radar, where the instrument measures the intensity in units of dBZ.
Check out this Doppler radar image from the storm that helped turn out the lights at the television station. The pink areas correspond to high dBZ values. For the pink area in the middle of the image (southeastern Pennsylvania), golf-ball-sized hail was reported.
Doppler radar is also useful for determining the wind speeds during a storm. I searched the Doppler radar image archive provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for any signs of the microburst that racked havoc on the Dallas Cowboy's practice facility Saturday. I didn't find any, but it's possible that the Doppler radar in the Fort Worth, Texas, area did not capture an image for the time of the microburst.
Now, microbursts are not always as damaging as they were last Saturday. When the power was out at the television station, one of the fellow meteorologists called in to report that a microburst happened in his backyard! The microburst blew over his children's swing set and flew a heavy glass table from the deck behind his house to his driveway. Lucky for him, his cars were in the garage.
Drew Anderson Penn State Meteorologist and Fox Weather Correspondent
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