Radar or otherwise known as Radio Detection and Ranging, is an instrument that uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. Doppler Radar detects the intensity of precipitation, wind direction and speed, and droplet size. Doppler Radar uses the Doppler effect. The Doppler effect measures velocity of particles. Basically, an Austrian physicist, J. Christian Doppler, explained why a whistle of an approaching train had a higher pitch sound then when the train was moving away from a specific spot.
Doppler Radar sends out a radio signal and depending on how much of that signal is return is how intense the precipitation is. For example, look at the picture above, the areas that are black are returning little to no signal and the areas in green and orange are returning a signal to the Doppler Radar. I hope this makes sense.
Meteorologist use Doppler Radar to measure tons of different elements. Today, computers can even detect whether there is a "Vortex Signature" within Doppler Radar data, which has greatly helped with warning people to take shelter for a tornado.
Photo From:
nicksmaps.blogspot.com
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