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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C3 | 39 mi north northwest of the radar39 mi from the radar, bearing 342° | Toward the north northeast at 37 mph | 55 mi north of the radar | - | 2.3 mi |
| O3 | 31 mi northwest of the radar31 mi from the radar, bearing 322° | Toward the north northwest at 29 mph | 45 mi northwest of the radar | - | 2.3 mi |
| E5 | 43 mi west northwest of the radar43 mi from the radar, bearing 283° | Toward the north at 46 mph | 52 mi northwest of the radar | 67 mi northwest of the radar | 0.5 mi |
| R4 | 9 mi north northwest of the radar9 mi from the radar, bearing 343° | Toward the northeast at 36 mph | 23 mi north northeast of the radar | - | 1.6 mi |
| C4 | 36 mi southwest of the radar36 mi from the radar, bearing 216° | Toward the north northeast at 41 mph | 15 mi southwest of the radar | 7 mi north of the radar | 1.2 mi |
| M5 | 48 mi north of the radar48 mi from the radar, bearing 11° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| C6 | 38 mi east northeast of the radar38 mi from the radar, bearing 76° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| K5 | 62 mi west southwest of the radar62 mi from the radar, bearing 254° | Toward the north northeast at 30 mph | 53 mi west of the radar | 47 mi west of the radar | 0.8 mi |
| F5 | 38 mi south southeast of the radar38 mi from the radar, bearing 148° | Toward the north northeast at 46 mph | 31 mi east southeast of the radar | 40 mi east northeast of the radar | 1.3 mi |
| V5 | 26 mi northwest of the radar27 mi from the radar, bearing 306° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| A6 | 52 mi west of the radar52 mi from the radar, bearing 261° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| U4 | 26 mi east of the radar27 mi from the radar, bearing 80° | Toward the west at 3 mph | 25 mi east of the radar | - | 1.4 mi |
| W5 | 31 mi south southeast of the radar31 mi from the radar, bearing 165° | Toward the northeast at 45 mph | 24 mi east southeast of the radar | 35 mi east of the radar | 1.3 mi |
| W4 | 31 mi north northwest of the radar31 mi from the radar, bearing 343° | Toward the north northeast at 45 mph | 52 mi north of the radar | - | 1.3 mi |
| O5 | 16 mi west northwest of the radar16 mi from the radar, bearing 283° | Toward the northeast at 60 mph | - | - | 5.5 mi |
| G5 | 35 mi southwest of the radar35 mi from the radar, bearing 230° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| K2 | 41 mi south of the radar41 mi from the radar, bearing 190° | Toward the northeast at 36 mph | 29 mi south of the radar | - | 1.4 mi |
| R5 | 47 mi northwest of the radar47 mi from the radar, bearing 309° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| V4 | 30 mi southeast of the radar30 mi from the radar, bearing 137° | Toward the north northeast at 46 mph | 31 mi east of the radar | 45 mi east northeast of the radar | 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=PAIH, the times of its frames, and /radar/s/PAIH/storms.json, the storms it tracks.