Owner manual

not be much more than a blunt projection or a scalloped edge of the

parent thunderstorm echo.

A crescent-shaped indentation on the side of a major thunderstorm echo

3 to 7 miles long is another possible identifier of an active or potential tor-

nado in the vicinity.

The best procedure is to make wider than usual detours around sharp-

edged thunderstorms and especially those which show projections or

crescent-shaped indentations.

HAIL

Hail usually has a film of water on its surface, consequently, a hailstone

is often reflected as a very large water particle. Because of the film and

because hail stones usually are larger than raindrops, thunderstorms

with large amounts of wet hail return stronger signals than those with

rain. Although wet hail is an excellent reflector of radar energy, some

hail shafts are extremely small (100 yards or less). These narrow shafts

make poor radar targets.

Hail shafts are usually identified with four different characteristic patterns:

(1) fingers and protrusions, (2) hooks, (3) scalloped edges on the cloud

outline and (4) U-shaped cloud edges 3 to 7 miles across.

Effective Date: 9/98 RDR 2100 Pilot's Guide: Rev 1

Weather Mapping and Interpretation

Finger Hook

Scalloped Edge U-Shaped

RDR 2100 PG 3/12/07 3:45 PM Page 21