Can RADAR detect a tornado?
A tornado is a “violently rotating column of air in association with a cumulonimbus cloud that is in contact with the earth’s surface”. One limitation of RADAR is that it can not tell the RADAR operator if the mesocyclonic circulation is in contact with the ground. The RADAR operator can only go by probabilities from the magnitude of the gate to gate shear. The only method of determining if the tornadic circulation is on the ground is through the use of a trained storm spotter.
