Estimating Visibility during Snowfall Using Radar
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Abstract
To estimate the visibility during snowfall, we compare hourly visibility (Vis) measurements with radar reflectivity factor (Z) measurements sampled over Edmonton International Airport during snowfall events from October 2010 to April 2011. The (Z, Vis) scatter diagrams showed that increasing Z was correlated with decreasing Vis. For a given Z observation, we found the probability distribution of Vis. The interquartile range with Z ≥ 20 dBZ was smaller than the IQR with Z < 20 dBZ.
The scatter was not significantly affected by the temperature profile or the wet bulb potential temperature. Strong wind speed (≥15 knots) along with high reflectivity was associated low Vis (< 2 sm). Radar reflectivity data has valuable information for visibility, yet is not a substitute for human observations.