X-band Radar Data

These images show low-elevation scans from the NOAA/ETL X-band weather research radar, which is stationed on the coastline at Fort Ross, California, to observe land-falling winter storms for HMT 2004. The reflectivities of precipitation echoes in the region extending to 58 km offshore are shown in high resolution with color contours in dBZ units, where warmer colors indicate more intense rain. The range ring interval is 10 km. A few landmarks are indicated by three-letter identifier codes, including Point Arena (PTA) to the northwest, Point Reyes (PTR) to the southeast and the Bodega buoy (BBB) offshore to the south-southwest. Date and time are shown in the lower right corner in terms of Universal Coordinated Time (subtract 8 hours for Pacific Standard Time). The radar also measures the Doppler velocity and polarimetric features of the precipitation, although those parameters are not displayed here. Images from earlier periods and dates can be viewed from the image archive. An interesting case from December 9, 2003 shows the narrow cold frontal rainband (NCFR) coming on shore during the storm that affected the northern SF bay area.