24 hour radar estimated precipitation accumulation is available from the Midland and Lubbock NEXRAD radars. The image shows the radar estimated rainfall from the Lubbock and Midland radars. The color contours on the image indicate the amount of rainfall in millimeters as shown in the bar to the left of the page. The latest 24 hour radar estimated rainfall is available here.

The rainfall in the target area is mainly convective during the operational season and thus it is more localized and its spatial and temporal distribution as well as the intensity of rainfall is highly variable. Therefore, it is essential to measure area rainfall on real time as accurately as possible.  Various methods of rainfall measurements are available.  These include rain gauge, rainfall recorder, radar and satellite. Of these different measuring devices radar is useful and advantageous in providing continuous, large area coverage and real-time estimating of rainfall.

Radar is an attractive alternative for the estimation of convective rainfall, because it provides the equivalent of a very dense gauge network (one square kilometer).  Radar estimation of rainfall is, however, a complex undertaking involving determination of the radar parameters, calibration of the system, anomalous propagation of the radar beam, ground clutter and “false rainfall”, concerns about beam filling and attenuation, and the development of equations relating radar reflectivity (Z) to rainfall rate (R), where radar reflectivity is proportional to the sixth power of the droplet diameters in the radar beam.

NEXRAD is an S-band (10 cm) radar that does not attenuate appreciably in heavy rain, and they are operated continuously unless they are down for maintenance.  In addition, the NEXRAD radars have a clutter-removal algorithm that eliminates most of the ground clutter and false rainfall produced during periods of anomalous propagation.

This NEXRAD data is now available through Weather Decision Technologies (WDT).  WDT receives instantaneous reflectivity data from the NWS radar sites located in the United States.  This product is available from the Midland and Lubbock NWS NEXRAD sites and plans for acquiring the DOD Canon Air Force base radar are being explored.  The NEXRAD data is run through TITAN as a graphic user interface.  WDT will customize the data to include a superior radar estimated rainfall product and a DopplerCast™ feature which is an accurate depiction model of future radar reflectivity.