HOW TO SEE A TORNADO ON RADAR

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Simple answers to... How do you see a tornado on radar and how do you know if a tornado is coming toward you?

When the cross section of precipitation makes a hook shape, or a hook echo, we can infer strong rotation and possibly a tornado.  Precipitation is revealed in the "reflectivity" mode on radar apps.

REFLECTIVITY MODE
In Reflectivity mode, some of the beam emitted from radar is reflected back to the radar by rain, snow or hail and detected. That’s why we call it an echo. 

The greatest reflectivity comes from hail stones displayed in pinks and purples and the smallest the more tiny hydrometeors like light rain and drizzle in yellow or green.

VELOCITY MODE
Not all tornadoes form a hook echo o radar. That's were "Velocity" mode comes in. Velocity mode is like X-ray vision. 
It’s a POWERFUL tool for detecting circulations within a storm.  
Red indicates wind moving away from the radar, and green toward the radar.   A relatively small concentrated area of inbound and outbound stronger velocities coming together indicates strong rotation and possibly a tornado. Together, Reflectivity and Velocity are powerful tools for detecting tornadoes. 

HEADS UP!
Tornadoes often change direction and the scan you are viewing could be several minutes old. Also factor in, the circulations depicted on radar can be several kilometers aloft. And the tornadoes position at the surface can be displaced as it bends diagonally through the storm.

Many radar apps like Radarscope have a storm tracking or cell motions option. You can also get a good idea of what direction the storm is going by playing the animation loop.

LIGHTNING DATA
Some radar apps also offer lightning data. Most of the time lightning data is a good tool for tracking lightning and predicting storm intensity.   I assumed they are all lightning data is detecting cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, but to be honest, there are many times when I’m positioned in a sea of would-be lightning strikes according to the data, and I’ve observed no CG’s near my area.  So perhaps they were false signals or large intra-cloud discharges were detected? I’m currently looking into this mystery. 

TORNADO 2018
On May 1st, I witnessed my first tornado of 2018 near Salina Kansas. Watch how I use radar to track the tornado.

All footage copyright Pecos Hank 2018
Outro music "Crossed the Line" by Southern Backtones
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Pecos Hank is the Steve Irwin of Weather.

wp
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Step 1: Watch this video
Step 2: Get RadarScope
Step 3: Drive to Oklahoma
Step 4: Drive into a tornado with low visibility
Step 5: Profit

weatherstuff
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You’ve taught me more in 4 minutes than much of my remote sensing courses. The tornadoes that don’t have a hook echo are hardest to look for but you helped a lot. Thank you.

WeatherFan
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I'm 14 and live in NZ where there's like no tornados but I'm VERY interested in tornados ! I love watching your videos !! Thanks for uploading very informative videos and Congrats on almost 200, 000!

emirachelnatalie
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_Sensible people_
Do not go straight towards a tornado


_Pecos Hank_
I'm a professional, it's time to go straight in

JustinY.
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2:36 - I actually woke my cat when I yelled out "Oh, sh*t" at the sight of that tornado.

YokozunaNumber
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I love This channel so much. The footage is so awesome and crystal clear.

jeffcunningham
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"Gotta drive to Oklahoma" That made me laugh so

Jaroks
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3:24 was one of the coolest cross-sections I've ever seen, never really thought of it going like that before.

SauceDuckLuck
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*Gets notification of Pecos Hank while watching porn*
*Closes porn imediatly and opens youtube*

SomeDick
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This guy is so good at what he does and his professionalism without yelling during his videos is why I keep watching.

remacp
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Videos like this are EXTREMELY helpful for people like me who wanted to be a chaser my entire life! It’s great to have someone like you posting not only beautiful intense videos of and about tornadoes, but also educational ones. Can’t wait until I’m not too poor to support you on patreon, thank you for videos hank!

Mousecaddet
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Great video Hank! Heh I actually learned something new about the velocity radar I didn't think about before, in regards to the actual location of the tornado and the actual scanned vorticity.

It's been a weak tornado season Hank, I hope it picks up for you soon. I love your videos. Good luck!

krystianzyszczynski
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3:26 That looked so cool to me, just comparing the tiny funnel on the ground to the tube that seemed to touch space. Amazing.

triggered_atheist
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The only thing that I allow to send desktop notifications from chrome is specifically your videos. Thanks for the hard work and entertaining videos! ☺

joshuastone
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I'm like 13 years old and tornadoes fascinate me. My friends rely on me to know if there is a tornado or not. This helped a lot! Still a lot to learn, though.

backfortyoutdoors
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Pecos, a few months ago I told you I would be going to OU to study meteorology, and I wanted you to pin me. But you told me to graduate first. So Pecos, I have now officially graduated. Will you pin me now???

jackbenner
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Pecos, i never ever get tired of watching/listening to you and your content. The weather community is lucky to have you. Thanks for what you do...

funkdoktor
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In my opinion you deserve everyone in the worlds subscription. I’ve been subbed for a little more than a year now and I’ve enjoyed every second of that year because of your videos. They are very entertaining to watch! You have fun commentary and I really enjoy your animal encounters. You even answer a dm I sent you on Instagram about when the next video was going to be up 😂 So again, thank you for existing and giving me this amazing experience!! Keep it up!

sneaky
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Weather nerd here and I have to say....this is best content I have found and I have been searching for a long time. Thank you, Sir.

bryantmartin