Live/Radar/Every radar/KPBZ
Single radar / Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh radar KPBZ
The weather service radar at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 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
- 40.532°N 80.218°W, 1,185 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G5 | 6 mi west southwest of Cambridge Springs, PA84 mi from the radar, bearing 2° | Toward the east northeast at 68 mph | 4 mi east of Corry, PA | - | 1 mi |
| E5 | 8 mi south southeast of North East, PA112 mi from the radar, bearing 12° | Toward the east northeast at 56 mph | 128 mi north northeast of the radar | 148 mi north northeast of the radar | 0.9 mi |
| T4 | 7 mi north northwest of Alliance, OH59 mi from the radar, bearing 304° | Toward the east northeast at 66 mph | At Hubbard, OH | 8 mi southwest of Franklin, PA | 0.8 mi |
| K5 | 127 mi north northeast of the radar127 mi from the radar, bearing 16° | Toward the east northeast at 69 mph | - | - | 2.9 mi |
| D5 | At Waterford, PA98 mi from the radar, bearing 7° | Toward the east northeast at 67 mph | 117 mi north northeast of the radar | - | 0.9 mi |
| P5 | 3 mi west southwest of Conneaut Lakeshore, PA75 mi from the radar, bearing 355° | Toward the east northeast at 68 mph | 5 mi north northwest of Titusville, PA | 5 mi east southeast of Warren, PA | 0.8 mi |
| F5 | 3 mi west southwest of Champion Heights, OH63 mi from the radar, bearing 326° | Toward the east northeast at 56 mph | - | - | 2 mi |
| V4 | 6 mi northwest of Pymatuning Central, PA78 mi from the radar, bearing 346° | Toward the east northeast at 61 mph | 2 mi north northwest of Cambridge Springs, PA | 9 mi northeast of Corry, PA | 0.8 mi |
| Q5 | 8 mi north of Cortland, OH68 mi from the radar, bearing 338° | Toward the east northeast at 58 mph | 4 mi east southeast of Conneaut Lakeshore, PA | 10 mi north of Titusville, PA | 0.1 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=KPBZ, the times of its frames, and /radar/s/KPBZ/storms.json, the storms it tracks.