Okay, this is really strange weather map(Vanity)

wunderground ^ | 3-20-08 | me

[Judith Anne]

I printed it out, it was so odd looking....

[Judith Anne]

Seriously, it looks like the mother ships are hovering...............

[newheart]

[HAL9000]

The gain controls on the radars are turned up the the maximum, which is normal when no precipitation is occurring. Those green blobs are ground clutter. This image is a composite of several radars, so there are several blobs of ground clutter.

The NEXRAD sites are clearly visible at Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Springfield, Kansas City, St Louis, Des Moines, etc.

[Grizzled Bear]

Do exactly what I say! Immediately remove all the cheese from your house and throw it on your neighbor’s lawn!

[2ndDivisionVet]

The Lizard humanoid Ascended Masters from Inner Earth are chanting a mantra at the special frequency, so as to change the current paradigm and bring on the age of Aquarius, is all. Nothing to see here.

[buccaneer81]

Ground clutter. Radar reflects large structures in urban areas.

[Judith Anne]

The Lizard humanoid Ascended Masters from Inner Earth are chanting a mantra at the special frequency, so as to change the current paradigm and bring on the age of Aquarius, is all. Nothing to see here.

I KNEW IT!!! Whew! Thank goodness. I thought I was imagining things.

[Judith Anne]

Okay, ground clutter. I guess, but we are having so much flooding around the southern part of the state, due to the recent 10 inches of rain, that I thought the rural areas would have the ground clutter too...

So, it’s structures that the radar reflects, not ambient moisture. Hmmmm....

Why are the centers empty? Looks like a doughnut.

[Judith Anne]

Thanks, newheart. I’ve looked at this radar map probably a thousand plus times over the years, and never seen anything like this, at all.

[Political Junkie Too]

Seriously, a few Space Shuttle missions ago, I was watching the highlights on the NASA Channel (Day 9, I remember), and it showed a sunrise from the East looking West, and the clouds had a concentric rings formation as seen from the International Space Station cameras. I can't find any video of that, and the mission clips on the NASA site stop before the point where the circles become visible.

I'd swear that those circles were formed by a meteor hitting the atmosphere and causing a shock wave to ripple through the clouds. I wonder if this rain pattern has its roots in micro-meteor strikes causing a pressure wave downward towards the Earth's surface, squeezing moisture out at the vertical points of impact.

I don't have the science or weather background to say with authority, but I had to use a layman's speculation, that's what I'd think.

-PJ

[Judith Anne]

Thanks, Hal. Still, it’s freaky looking. I’ve seriously never seen anything like this before.

[Judith Anne]

Do exactly what I say! Immediately remove all the cheese from your house and throw it on your neighbor’s lawn!

Well DUH! I did that first thing.

[Judith Anne]

There is no rain. Skies are clear all over the state.

[buccaneer81]

Why are the centers empty? Looks like a doughnut.

My guess is that the centers are the radar sites.

[HAL9000]

Here is the image from one of the radars, at Springfield, Missouri -

The ground clutter around the radar site is clearly visible. The sensitivity of the radar is turned up to the maximum setting. When some precipitation moves within range of the radar site, the settings will be turned down and the ground clutter will diminish.

[The Cajun]

You really shouldn't be looking at radars Judith Anne.

[Judith Anne]

Okay, that’s what I was understanding from Hal’s post and yours.

The centers just seem so large...and there would be most of the buildings right in the center...?

Look, I know these questions are amazingly uninformed. What do I know about weather radar? It’s just that I’ve looked at this map for maybe 4 years now, every day, and there’s never been anything like this before.

I guess turning up the gain, you get some strange effects.

[Judith Anne]

I can’t help myself. I had to work today, and it was a PERFECT FIRST DAY OF SPRING, and I was supposed to be off!

I wanted the same tomorrow, to make up for today, and when I looked to see what was going on, I saw this odd sight.

Now I’ll have to look every day just to be sure it doesn’t happen again..........................

[stlnative]

speaking of floods...

check this out - click on the map where you want water levels from

http://www.weather.gov/ahps/