Live/Radar/Every radar/KBUF
Single radar / New York
Buffalo radar KBUF
The weather service radar at Buffalo, New York, alone: each picture it makes from its own scans, at four tilts from its lowest up, every few minutes. Reflectivity, velocity, storm relative velocity, correlation coefficient and differential reflectivity, the storms it tracks and where they are headed, and how high its beam passes. How to read them.
- Latest scan
- Scanning
- Precipitation mode, pattern 215
- Tilts
- 0.5°, 1.3°, 2.4°, 3.1°
- Stands at
- 42.949°N 78.737°W, 693 ft above sea level
- Reaches
- 286 mi with reflectivity, 186 mi with velocity, 143 mi with storm relative velocity
Storms it tracks
The radar follows each storm cell from scan to scan, measures the way it is moving, and puts it ahead 15 to 60 minutes. Each is drawn on the map above, its track to the hour ahead marked each quarter hour.
| Storm | Where | Moving | In 30 minutes | In 60 minutes | Last forecast off by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T0 | 12 mi northwest of Lake City, PA107 mi from the radar, bearing 239° | Toward the east northeast at 67 mph | 7 mi northwest of North East, PA | 3 mi east southeast of Fredonia, NY | 0.1 mi |
| Y0 | 108 mi west southwest of the radar108 mi from the radar, bearing 258° | Toward the east at 59 mph | 78 mi west southwest of the radar | 48 mi west southwest of the radar | 0.9 mi |
| X0 | 101 mi west southwest of the radar101 mi from the radar, bearing 249° | Toward the east northeast at 67 mph | 68 mi west southwest of the radar | 10 mi northwest of Silver Creek, NY | 0.5 mi |
| Z0 | 107 mi west southwest of the radar107 mi from the radar, bearing 253° | Toward the east northeast at 82 mph | 67 mi west southwest of the radar | - | 1.4 mi |
| H0 | 98 mi west southwest of the radar98 mi from the radar, bearing 241° | Toward the east northeast at 58 mph | 14 mi north of North East, PA | - | 1.2 mi |
| C1 | 100 mi west of the radar100 mi from the radar, bearing 267° | Toward the east northeast at 58 mph | 75 mi west of the radar | - | 1.5 mi |
| F1 | 99 mi northeast of the radar99 mi from the radar, bearing 37° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| S0 | 91 mi west of the radar91 mi from the radar, bearing 272° | Toward the east northeast at 77 mph | 58 mi west northwest of the radar | 10 mi north northwest of Youngstown, NY | 0.1 mi |
| G1 | 108 mi west of the radar108 mi from the radar, bearing 272° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| C0 | 82 mi west southwest of the radar82 mi from the radar, bearing 251° | Toward the east northeast at 69 mph | - | - | 3 mi |
| H1 | 79 mi west of the radar79 mi from the radar, bearing 262° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| I1 | 82 mi north of the radar82 mi from the radar, bearing 355° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| J1 | 92 mi northeast of the radar92 mi from the radar, bearing 40° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| L0 | 86 mi northeast of the radar86 mi from the radar, bearing 35° | Toward the east at 70 mph | - | - | 3.3 mi |
| K1 | 77 mi north of the radar77 mi from the radar, bearing 6° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
How high it sees
The beam leaves the radar tilted up and the earth curves away under it, so the farther from the radar, the higher it passes. Rain or snow falling under the lowest beam is not seen: far from the radar, shallow snow and drizzle can fall unseen. The heights are the standard ones, the air bending the beam as the weather service’s own rule takes it.
| Tilt | 25 mi | 50 mi | 100 mi | 150 mi | 200 mi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5° | 1,500 ft | 3,600 ft | 9,600 ft | 18,200 ft | 29,200 ft |
| 1.3° | 3,300 ft | 7,200 ft | 17,000 ft | 29,300 ft | 44,000 ft |
| 2.4° | 5,800 ft | 12,300 ft | 27,200 ft | 44,500 ft | 64,400 ft |
| 3.1° | 7,500 ft | 15,600 ft | 33,600 ft | 54,200 ft | 77,400 ft |
| Width | 2,200 ft | 4,400 ft | 8,800 ft | 13,100 ft | 17,500 ft |
How to read the pictures
- Reflectivity
- How strongly rain, snow and hail send the pulse back, in dBZ: the stronger, the heavier.
- Velocity
- The wind along the beam, in mph: green toward the radar, red away. Where the two meet tightly, the wind turns.
- Storm relative velocity
- The same wind with the storms’ own motion taken away, so a storm’s turning stands out: a tight pair of green and red is a rotating storm.
- Correlation coefficient
- How alike the returns of one pulse are, 0 to 1: rain and snow near 1, hail and melting snow lower, and debris a tornado lifts well below 0.8.
- Differential reflectivity
- How much wider than tall what falls is, in dB: large flat raindrops read high, hail and dry snow near 0.
Each picture is one tilt of one scan, as the radar sent it: its lowest tilt first, then three above it, the angles its scan pattern sets. A picture at a higher tilt sees higher into a storm, and farther over the ground at each distance. Press a point on the map to read the value there.
As data: /radar/now.json?show=sref&site=KBUF, the times of its frames, and /radar/s/KBUF/storms.json, the storms it tracks.