radar mode?

[Jake Tyson]

hey everbody, just tryin to find out, how do you tell if a radar is in Clear air mode, or not.

oh and p.s. does anyone know if gr3 has a "clutter removal" (like the wunderground.com radar)

[Skip Talbot]

Jake, check out the dbz range of the radar image you're looking at. The clear air mode images I've seen usually range from something like -25 to 25, whereas in the precip mode it goes up to 80. Here's some more info:
http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/239/

Do a search for Grlevel3 color tables. Ones that take the blue shades out (below 20 dbz) should take a lot of the clutter out of your image (at the expense of missing some weak showers).

[Greg Blumberg]

I agree with Skip about the color tables, but it won't be a "remove clutter" option, but it will act the same way. In all honesty...keep the clutter. It may seem bothersome, but it has important uses in learning more about the atmosphere through the radar.

Also, in figuring out whether or not the radar is in clear air mode, check the VCP or Volume Coverage Pattern.

Clear Air Mode: 31 and 32
Precipitation Mode: 11, 12, 21, 212

The VCP can be found on the upper right side of GRLevel3. Knowing a little bit about the current weather pattern and what is expected can help you guess which VCP they are using.. Also:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/doppler/vcp_max.htm

[Jake Tyson]

k thanks guys, i was told once by a member here there are no stupd questions, so i asked.

now if only i could find that camera mount, (im still goin throughsearch results, lol, but i cant find none for the cheap minidv jvc i hav, am and hoping to use as a dash cam, if i dont find it, expect a thread in equiptment in the am)

oh and thanks for the jetstream link (i backtracked to is homepage), itll really help me study more as it covers alot,

[rdale]

Originally Posted by Jake Tyson

hey everbody, just tryin to find out, how do you tell if a radar is in Clear air mode, or not.

To clarify - if it's in VCP31 or VCP32 (which is in the status bar) it is in Clear Air.

Any others, VCP11, VCP12, VCP21, VCP121, VCP211, VCP212 and VCP221 are all precip modes. For more info on the differences, check out http://stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=22109

[Greg Blumberg]

Thanks for clarifying rdale. I shouldn't be posting so early in the morning.

Just wanted to add one more thing Jake. JetStream provides basics to weather. It's a great resource, but the weather material on it is basically simplified as much as possible so it's easy to understand. It's a good start for educating yourself about severe weather and other things, but you will really need to expand your knowledge beyond that in order to better understand what is happening in the atmosphere when you have certain weather setups. Tim V. has some great books for that, and an online program called COMET MetEd is well worth your time to look at:

http://www.comet.ucar.edu/

These can really help you expand your knowledge. The biggest thing you can do is start looking at weather maps and start thinking about what you're seeing. This is what I stress to the students in my forecasting shift: the greatest education you can receive when it comes to weather is when you start the observing (maps and what your eyes see around you) part of the scientific process. A huge chunk of what meteorology is pattern recognition.

Start with the JetStream though and start applying the concepts you find there immediately. Good luck!

[Morgan Palmer]

I'll also mention that the link Skip referenced above: http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints has many other great tidbits for someone getting their feet wet in meteorology. Jeff Haby of Miss. State does that. I'll also second the thumbs up for COMET. Lots of good stuff on there. Good luck! -MP

[Jake Tyson]

thank guys, i already have been going through COMET, but i was looking for something like jetstream for some of the stuf that was above my head, also i have the habyshints already bookmarked, lol