Posted: January 1, 2012 | Tag: Electronics
Can you settle a bet for me? My slip neighbor says you can’t see storm clouds on radar unless it’s actually raining. I say you can, because I’ve seen clouds on screen and then gone under them, and it wasn’t raining. Who's right?
You lose the bet — even though I’ve had the exact same experience you describe. Radar can’t see clouds, because the droplets that make them up are too small to provide a return. But updrafts can sometimes hold rain aloft. Since the raindrops are large enough to provide a solid target, you may see the ”storm” on screen even though those raindrops never reach the surface of the sea. So technically, he’s correct.