(The title says “Poof!” by the way, but the Word Press software kind of cuts off the top of the letters, so the f looks like a t!)
Most mornings this summer, I have observed an interesting phenomenon on the Birmingham Doppler radar. From several locations across Central Alabama, but most notably from ones near Montgomery, what looks like an explosion occurs.
There is a sudden small flare of radar returns. Then a large circle of returns appears. The circle begins to expand outward, like a ripple from a stone thrown in a pond.
With each successive volume scane from the radar, the ring expands further outward for several minutes until it is 30-40 miles in diameter.
Here is an interesting sequence of radar images from Saturday morning, July 14th.
What is your best guess at what we are seeing?
It is called a “birdburst.” The Doppler radar is finely tuned to pick up returns from precipitation particles, such as raindrops and hail. It can also pick up things like swarms of bugs, and birds. What we are seeing with the “explosion” of returns on the radar is flocks of birds flying off to find breakfast just after sunrise. The radar returns are enhanced by the early morning inversion in the lower atmosphere.
