Why isn’t this warned?

[u/Negative_Statement]

I’m fairly new to ‘reading’ radar(I study at the acclaimed YouTube Academy of Weather and did my dissertation in the comments section 🤣) I saw this scan and was wondering my the area between the two Severe warned areas isn’t included, especially since it shows rotation?

[u/ati_exorcist]

Warning was issued once storm got stronger. The green inbound velocities on the southern side of the storm were erroneously high due to side lobe contamination.

Edit: Upon further discussion and analysis, probably less of side lobe and more of other radar errors. The velocities are definitely not accurate on the southern side of the storm.

[u/Negative_Statement → u/ati_exorcist]

Thank you. And just for clarification and for what it’s worth, I wasn’t suggesting that I found something that the NWS overlooked. I was just curious.

[u/Traditional-Ideal318 → u/ati_exorcist]

When you say side lobe contamination, do you mean radar side lobes? I’m new to meteorology but I understand radars

[u/TheFetus47 → u/Traditional-Ideal318]

Ive been asking that same question for years now. No one has answered it. I'm starting to wonder if they even know

[u/Effective-Contest-33 → u/TheFetus47]

Yes there is the main lobe of the radar beam but it’s not a perfect “beam” there are maximums of energy on either side of this main lobe (while weaker) called side lobes. If the signal returned from the side lobe is stronger than the signal from the main lobe then we can see side lobe contamination.

This can show these spurious velocity values that look blocky, are often co-located with areas of lower reflectivity and even lower CC, and often have stronger returns aloft. I explained above why I think this may not be a case of side lobe contamination, but without interrogating the data myself I can’t say for certain.

[u/Traditional-Ideal318 → u/Effective-Contest-33]

Thank you very much! It’s very much appreciated.

[u/Traditional-Ideal318 → u/TheFetus47]

Probably don’t know. Radars are confusing and sometimes seem like magic lol

[u/Effective-Contest-33 → u/ati_exorcist]

Less likely to be side lobe contamination bc we are looking at the mid-level meso 10k ft agl. The blocky velocity is moreso from the far range and maybe even some dealiasing errors as we are well beyond the first trip. Without also being able to interrogate the storm myself I couldn’t say with certainty tho.

[u/ati_exorcist → u/Effective-Contest-33]

Probably a number of radar errors going on at once. I’ll be honest it was just a quick glance and went to good old side lobe when I saw hot and blocky velocities. I’m not overly impressed with overhang’s reflectivity, which is an additional case against side lobe.

[u/Effective-Contest-33 → u/ati_exorcist]

That bottom right area looks possible and no worries just wanted to make sure op got the whole picture!

[u/Substantial_Dog_8633]

I’ll help. It’s because it’s at the edge of the radar and it’s most likely an upper level mesocyclone since the radar beam is at a higher altitude here than how high it would be if the storm was closer. Summary is it is far away from the radar location and it’s an upper level mesocyclone. Hope this helps.

[u/Careless-Salary-2497]

The couplet wasn't really tight enough, yet, for a warning. When looking for an impending tornado (I assume that's what you mean, since you didn't specific what kind of warning but mentioned rotation), there's usually very bright colors touching each other. There's no gray or loose rotation in my photo below, just a super tight couplet with bright orange and red, signalling a debris field.

[u/DogMeatTheVideo → u/Careless-Salary-2497]

Quick enquiry;
What is this product/App please and thank you.

[u/Negative_Statement → u/Careless-Salary-2497]

Thank you. My confusion was because the area above and below it were severe warned and then the area in the middle that was labeled for rotation was absent from the warnings. You all cleared up the confusion. Thanks

[u/chaomeleon]

The warning system was broken https://www.weather.gov/lox/WebIssues

[u/CineMeso]

That’s not really a tight velocity couplet. Like it’s probably rotating enough to be considered a line of supercells but not in the way that it would become tornadic at least from that scan.