# weather radar **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 10, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-radar/65025 "2001-05-10T22:21:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-radar/65025/1 "2001-05-10T22:21:15Z")
Occasionally when I view weather radar, I see a long thin wedge pointing towards what I assume is the radar site. This is probably a very temporary, small obstruction near the radar. What sort of thing could this obstruction be? Regularly scheduled commercial plane? If so, shouldn’t this happen a lot? A large bird, like a goose? Would it be big enough? Does the radar have enough energy to cook it? One of those mylar baloons? Again, would it be big enough? Small private or chartered plane? Any other ideas? Thanks in advance for your help. ---
**Author:** ![PicklePea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecd19e/32.png) [@PicklePea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PicklePea)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-radar/65025/2 "2001-05-11T02:46:40Z")
Lots of things can be picked up by radar. It’s possible to adjust sensitivity to the point that _dust_ is picked up by radar. And yes, radar can and will pick up aircraft, flocks of birds, etc. But these things would reflect a very small return in comparison to the total area depicted on the radar return image. I’m not sure what this “wedge” is that you’re referring to…could you describe it better or provide a link to an example? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-radar/65025/3 "2001-05-11T04:31:14Z")
If you think of the radar’s circular coverage as a pie, what I’ve seen is a very, very narrow slice of pie. About 1/32nd of the pie or narrower. ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-radar/65025/4 "2001-05-11T05:56:59Z")
I think I’ve seen what you’re describing. If you look at a web site or a TV station that is showing a “raw” feed from a NEXRAD site, sometimes you’ll see a very narrow triangular area that is a different color with the apex at the NEXRAD site and the base is pointing in the other direction. If you watch an animated version of one of these feeds, you’ll usually notice that this triangle appears for only one frame and then diappears. In most weather radar images shown on TV, these don’t appear because the radar image is assembled from a number of different sites. The NEXRAD network is designed so that the coverage areas the sites overlap. So, if only one site “sees” something, it’s likely ground clutter, a transient “glitch” or an airborne object, such as planes, or flocks of birds. In “clear air” mode, NEXRAD can even detect air masses of different characteristics, without precipitation. A very good explanation of NEXRAD can be found at: [http://www.intellicast.com/Help/Weather/2011/](http://www.intellicast.com/Help/Weather/2011/) ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-radar/65025/5 "2001-05-11T06:39:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by paperbackwriter \* > I think I’ve seen what you’re describing. If you look at a web site or a TV station that is showing a “raw” feed from a NEXRAD site, sometimes you’ll see a very narrow triangular area that is a different color with the apex at the NEXRAD site and the base is pointing in the other direction. If you watch an animated version of one of these feeds, you’ll usually notice that this triangle appears for only one frame and then diappears. That’s it.