Tonight's national weather radar is full of activity. What's left of #HurricaneNicole is spinning in the southeast; rain along the cold front from Wisconsin to Oklahoma; heavy snow in North Dakota and Minnesota. And the appearance of nighttime bugs, bats, and other flyers across the southeast, too!
When I teach this, I usually call it "rainfall radar" like they do in the UK (am not from there, I just think the name is clearer to students). Seems to help them differentiate it from satellite imagery, which we use to detect clouds.
@chattwjonathan I think "rainfall radar" is probably closer to its intended purpose, too. One thing they do, that I truly wish we could get people to do here in the US, is to stop displaying reflectivity and just state it as the rainfall rate. Seems like that would be more helpful to end users.
(Easier said than done, since the conversion is very different for stratiform, t'storms, hurricanes...)
@codykirkp never heard the term "rainfall radar" before but I suppose it's close to "weather radar" which we use.
I have noticed more since I live in the South though that the radar picks up more evaporating precip from warm fronts moving north. Radar sites the rain but it's not hitting the ground yet. Messes with a lot of people's weather apps.
I suppose they don't have much of that in the UK...