Weather radar

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - Weather radars are one of meteorologists' most valuable tools, but how exactly do they work to detect precipitation?

This directs the radio waves toward the large dish, the dish focuses the energy and sends it out into the atmosphere. When it is in operation, two large motors rotate the dish as well as tilt the dish at different angles to get a full three-dimensional 360-degree picture of precipitation hundreds of miles from the radar site. “The more intense the rain is, the more that energy is sort of attenuated as it comes back. That’s where that energy is generated, it’s sent up to the radar in what we call a waveguide, it really guides the radio waves up to the top of the radar. In Bismarck, the radar tower is 65 feet tall and the radar dome itself is 39 feet tall. And that’s where we have the other components of the radar then, where it’s sending out that signal, that energy.