NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Radar can actually detect debris flying through the air during a tornado.
Older Doppler radar primarily showed us where precipitation was located but dual-polarization radar gives us much more information, including the size, shape, and type of what it’s detecting.
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That becomes especially useful with tornadoes.
Correlation coefficient (CC) is a dual-pol radar product meteorologists often use to help identify debris.
Correlation Coefficient on radar (WZTV)
Those areas of lower CC values embedded within the storm can indicate a mixture of objects with different sizes and shapes, like tree limbs, shingles, fence posts and other debris being lofted in the air by a tornado.
When that debris signature lines up with the storm’s velocity/rotation signature, it gives meteorologists greater confidence that a tornado is on the ground and causing damage.
Radar isn’t just showing where the rain is.
It’s giving meteorologists another way to see what’s happening inside the storm.