Live/Radar/Every radar/PAIH
Single radar / Alaska
Middleton Island radar PAIH
The weather service radar at Middleton Island, Alaska, 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
- 59.462°N 146.301°W, 67 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V0 | 16 mi northeast of the radar16 mi from the radar, bearing 41° | Toward the northwest at 35 mph | 24 mi north of the radar | 39 mi north northwest of the radar | 1 mi |
| U1 | 71 mi northeast of the radar71 mi from the radar, bearing 41° | Toward the northwest at 16 mph | - | - | 3.1 mi |
| J3 | 62 mi south southwest of the radar62 mi from the radar, bearing 197° | Toward the north northwest at 8 mph | 60 mi south southwest of the radar | - | 1.7 mi |
| R1 | 87 mi north northwest of the radar88 mi from the radar, bearing 346° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| O3 | 14 mi west southwest of the radar14 mi from the radar, bearing 243° | Toward the northwest at 18 mph | 18 mi west of the radar | 25 mi west northwest of the radar | 1.2 mi |
| U3 | 63 mi north northeast of the radar63 mi from the radar, bearing 20° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| F3 | 54 mi east of the radar54 mi from the radar, bearing 82° | Toward the north northwest at 16 mph | 52 mi east northeast of the radar | 52 mi east northeast of the radar | 0.9 mi |
| V3 | 48 mi northeast of the radar48 mi from the radar, bearing 44° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| M3 | 51 mi south southeast of the radar51 mi from the radar, bearing 152° | Toward the east northeast at 28 mph | - | - | 6.3 mi |
| E3 | 15 mi north northwest of the radar15 mi from the radar, bearing 343° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| O1 | 26 mi north northwest of the radar27 mi from the radar, bearing 337° | Toward the north northwest at 33 mph | 43 mi north northwest of the radar | - | 2.4 mi |
| C0 | 62 mi northeast of the radar62 mi from the radar, bearing 44° | Toward the north northwest at 21 mph | 66 mi northeast of the radar | 71 mi north northeast of the radar | 0.9 mi |
| H3 | 66 mi east northeast of the radar66 mi from the radar, bearing 62° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| R3 | 12 mi east northeast of the radar12 mi from the radar, bearing 61° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| Y3 | 44 mi west northwest of the radar44 mi from the radar, bearing 293° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| Z3 | 40 mi north northwest of the radar40 mi from the radar, bearing 341° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| Q3 | 40 mi east northeast of the radar40 mi from the radar, bearing 64° | Toward the northwest at 33 mph | 37 mi northeast of the radar | - | 1.6 mi |
| A4 | 14 mi west northwest of the radar14 mi from the radar, bearing 295° | 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=PAIH, the times of its frames, and /radar/s/PAIH/storms.json, the storms it tracks.