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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Z2 | At Castle Shannon, PA16 mi from the radar, bearing 138° | Toward the north at 39 mph | 1 mi north northwest of Gibsonia, PA | - | 1.6 mi |
| O8 | 2 mi east northeast of Bedford, PA99 mi from the radar, bearing 110° | Toward the northeast at 44 mph | 6 mi east of Martinsburg, PA | - | 1.3 mi |
| K9 | 1 mi east southeast of McGovern, PA21 mi from the radar, bearing 178° | Toward the north at 43 mph | - | - | 3.5 mi |
| K7 | 4 mi south of Caldwell, OH90 mi from the radar, bearing 230° | Toward the north northeast at 41 mph | 8 mi east of Byesville, OH | 11 mi south southeast of Dennison, OH | 1 mi |
| N5 | 8 mi northeast of Clymer, PA70 mi from the radar, bearing 77° | Toward the north northeast at 22 mph | 10 mi east southeast of Punxsutawney, PA | - | 1.4 mi |
| F8 | 4 mi west northwest of Grafton, WV81 mi from the radar, bearing 175° | Toward the north northeast at 39 mph | At Westover, WV | 3 mi south of Republic, PA | 1.2 mi |
| J0 | 4 mi northwest of Shinnston, WV76 mi from the radar, bearing 185° | Toward the northeast at 46 mph | 1 mi east of Cassville, WV | - | 1.5 mi |
| L6 | 2 mi east of Evans City, PA20 mi from the radar, bearing 32° | Toward the east northeast at 16 mph | - | - | 5.5 mi |
| O9 | 8 mi east northeast of Orchard Hills, PA44 mi from the radar, bearing 81° | Toward the northeast at 39 mph | - | - | 4.4 mi |
| Z9 | 7 mi southwest of Wolfdale, PA30 mi from the radar, bearing 198° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| Z0 | 2 mi north northwest of Berlin, PA77 mi from the radar, bearing 121° | Toward the north northeast at 43 mph | At Windber, PA | 2 mi northwest of Loretto, PA | 1 mi |
| W0 | 4 mi east southeast of Beverly, OH100 mi from the radar, bearing 226° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| B9 | 8 mi east of Bear Rocks, PA54 mi from the radar, bearing 119° | Toward the north northeast at 48 mph | 7 mi east southeast of Black Lick, PA | 5 mi north northwest of Northern Cambria, PA | 0.7 mi |
| X0 | At Wintersville, OH29 mi from the radar, bearing 248° | Toward the north at 46 mph | 4 mi northwest of Glenmoor, OH | - | 1.5 mi |
| W9 | 9 mi west of Meyersdale, PA74 mi from the radar, bearing 132° | Toward the northeast at 32 mph | 3 mi south of Friedens, PA | 2 mi south southwest of Windber, PA | 0.6 mi |
| N1 | 9 mi south of Weston, WV113 mi from the radar, bearing 187° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| E9 | 5 mi southwest of St. Clairsville, OH53 mi from the radar, bearing 229° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| L8 | 8 mi north northwest of Burgettstown, PA13 mi from the radar, bearing 256° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| M1 | 6 mi south southeast of Paden City, WV78 mi from the radar, bearing 207° | Toward the northeast at 49 mph | 10 mi southeast of Moundsville, WV | 6 mi south southwest of Wolfdale, PA | 1.2 mi |
| F5 | At Loop, PA98 mi from the radar, bearing 94° | Toward the northeast at 38 mph | 6 mi east southeast of Tyrone, PA | 4 mi northwest of Toftrees, PA | 0.5 mi |
| E5 | At West Mayfield, PA18 mi from the radar, bearing 338° | Toward the northeast at 30 mph | - | - | 2.6 mi |
| C0 | 12 mi southwest of Salem, WV98 mi from the radar, bearing 196° | Toward the north northeast at 38 mph | 9 mi north of Salem, WV | - | 2.5 mi |
| S0 | 7 mi south of Stonewood, WV96 mi from the radar, bearing 183° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| Y1 | 3 mi northwest of Garrettsville, OH73 mi from the radar, bearing 319° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| F1 | 5 mi south southwest of East Palestine, OH25 mi from the radar, bearing 311° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| Q0 | 10 mi south southwest of Washington, PA35 mi from the radar, bearing 189° | Toward the north northeast at 17 mph | 2 mi south southwest of Washington, PA | - | 1.7 mi |
| H2 | 2 mi south southeast of Homer City, PA56 mi from the radar, bearing 91° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| K0 | 4 mi southwest of Gastonville, PA23 mi from the radar, bearing 159° | Toward the north northeast at 23 mph | At Whitehall, PA | - | 1.6 mi |
| S8 | 2 mi west of Windber, PA74 mi from the radar, bearing 106° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| V9 | 6 mi north of Freeport, PA32 mi from the radar, bearing 61° | Toward the northeast at 40 mph | 12 mi north northeast of Kittanning, PA | - | 1.7 mi |
| I8 | 2 mi south southwest of Trafford, PA27 mi from the radar, bearing 116° | Toward the north at 13 mph | 2 mi east northeast of Monroeville, PA | 3 mi southeast of New Kensington, PA | 0.2 mi |
| H4 | 2 mi west southwest of La Croft, OH23 mi from the radar, bearing 289° | Toward the northeast at 18 mph | 5 mi north northeast of Calcutta, OH | - | 1.3 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.