This report contains material taken from the available literature on identifying severe thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes from radar echoes. Radar echo signatures indicating severe weather are consolidated for geographical areas and weather types to afford the radar meteorologist easy access to the findings of several investigators in the weather radar field. Information concerning X-band, S-band, and C-band radars is included. (Author).

This report contains material taken from the available literature on identifying severe thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes from radar echoes. Radar echo signatures indicating severe weather are consolidated for geographical areas and weather types to afford the radar meteorologist easy access to the findings of several investigators in the weather radar field. Information concerning X-band, S-band, and C-band radars is included.

This report contains material taken from the available literature on identifying severe thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes from radar echoes. Radar echo signatures indicating severe weather are consolidated for geographical areas and weather types to afford the radar meteorologist easy access to the findings of several investigators in the weather radar field. Information concerning X-band, S-band, and C-band radars is included.

Many operational features of the WSR-88D were incorporated specifically to aid forecasters in the detection of severe local storms (damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes). One interpretive product, the Severe Weather Potential (SWP) algorithm, yields an index proportional to the probability that an individual thunderstorm cell will soon produce any severe weather phenomena. The SWP is based solely on radar information, namely vertically-integrated liquid VIL and storm horizontal extent.