Echo Tops
The maximum height at which radar detects precipitation in a storm, indicating storm intensity and updraft strength. Higher echo tops generally correlate with stronger storms. Tops exceeding 40,000 feet suggest severe weather potential.
More Radar & Observation Terms
NEXRAD
Next-Generation Radar, a network of 159 high-resolution Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service. NEXRAD detects precipitation, wind patterns, and severe weather signatures up to 250 miles from each station.
MRMS
Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor, an advanced system that combines data from multiple radars, satellites, and surface observations to create a seamless, high-resolution national weather picture updated every 2 minutes.
Reflectivity
A measure of how much radar energy is reflected back by precipitation, measured in dBZ (decibels of Z). Higher values indicate heavier precipitation or larger particles. Values above 50 dBZ typically indicate heavy rain or hail.
Velocity
Doppler radar measurement of how fast precipitation is moving toward or away from the radar. Velocity data reveals wind patterns, rotation in thunderstorms, and potential tornado signatures that reflectivity alone cannot show.
Hook Echo
A distinctive hook-shaped radar signature on the right rear of a supercell thunderstorm, indicating rotation and high tornado probability. Hook echoes form as precipitation wraps around the mesocyclone.
Bow Echo
A bow or crescent-shaped radar signature indicating strong straight-line winds. Bow echoes form when the center of a squall line accelerates ahead of its ends, often producing damaging winds exceeding 75 mph.
Debris Ball
A radar signature showing a concentrated area of debris lofted by a tornado. Debris balls appear as a circular area of high reflectivity collocated with rotation and confirm a tornado is on the ground causing damage.
Doppler Radar
Doppler radar is weather radar that measures the motion of precipitation as well as its location and intensity. It sends out pulses of radio waves and detects the shift in phase of the signal that returns, which shows whether targets are moving toward or away from the radar and how fast. That reveals wind patterns and rotation inside storms.
dBZ
dBZ, short for decibels of Z, is the unit of radar reflectivity: a logarithmic measure of how much energy precipitation returns to the radar. The scale runs from about -35 to +85 dBZ. As a guide, 20 to 40 dBZ is light precipitation, 40 to 50 is moderate, and 50 to 65 is heavy rain or some hail.
Correlation Coefficient
Correlation coefficient (CC) is a dual-polarization radar product that measures how similar the horizontal and vertical radar pulses are after they hit their targets, on a scale from 0 to 1. Uniform rain or snow gives values above 0.97. Mixed precipitation and hail give lower values, and tornado debris typically falls below 0.80.
Skew-T
A Skew-T Log-P diagram is the chart meteorologists use to plot a weather balloon sounding: temperature, dew point, and wind from the ground to the upper atmosphere. Its temperature lines are tilted 45 degrees, which gives the chart its name. A hodograph, often shown beside it, plots how wind speed and direction change with height.
Helpful Tools and Hubs
Use these pages to apply the concept, compare conditions, or follow related weather workflows.
Guide
How to Read Weather Radar
Learn the basics of radar interpretation so you can tell where storms are headed and how intense they may become.
Use Case
WeatherAI for Storm Chasers
See how WeatherAI supports active storm tracking with radar, severe weather context, and storm-focused workflows.
Feature
Professional Radar
Explore high-resolution radar, premium lightning, and satellite layers built for serious weather tracking.
Guide
Radar Beam Height Explained
Learn why radar can miss low-level rain, snow, and storm details depending on distance from the radar site.
Explore Other Terms
Red Flag Warning
A Red Flag Warning is a National Weather Service alert that weather conditions could cause extreme fire behavior. It is issued when those conditions are occurring or expected within 24 hours. Typical criteria combine dry fuels with sustained winds of 15 mph or more and relative humidity of 25% or less, and exact thresholds vary by state and local office.
El Niño and La Niña
El Niño and La Niña are the warm and cool phases of a recurring climate pattern in the tropical Pacific called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). During El Niño, the trade winds weaken and the central and eastern tropical Pacific runs warmer than average. During La Niña, the trade winds strengthen and the same waters run cooler. Both shift weather patterns worldwide.
Kp Index
The Kp index is a 0 to 9 scale of global geomagnetic activity, reported in 3-hour intervals from ground-based magnetometers. A Kp of 5 or higher indicates a geomagnetic storm, and the values map onto NOAA's G-scale from G1 (Kp 5) to G5 (Kp 9). The higher the Kp, the farther from the poles the aurora can be seen.
Aftershock
A smaller earthquake following a mainshock in the same area, caused by the crust adjusting to redistributed stress. Aftershocks are most frequent in the first hours and days and taper off over time, but can continue for months or years after a large event. If one turns out to be larger than the original earthquake, it is reclassified as the mainshock.
Tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground, extending from a thunderstorm. Tornadoes are rated from EF0 to EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale by the damage they cause. Most last less than 10 minutes, but the strongest can stay on the ground for more than an hour.
Pineapple Express
A strong atmospheric river that carries moisture from the tropical Pacific near Hawaii to the West Coast of North America. Because the air is warm, a Pineapple Express raises mountain snow levels, so more precipitation falls as rain and can melt existing snowpack, increasing the flood risk.
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