Radar

The Newcastle radar has a very good view in all directions and is the primary weather radar for the populated areas around Newcastle and the New South Wales central coast. It should provide useful weather information as far north as Port Macquarie, west to Wollemi National Park and South to Campbelltown. There is a tendency to observe areas of false echoes within approximately 100 kilometres of the radar over the sea. These anomalous propagations are easily identified and are displayed as a mass of low intensity echoes, constantly changing shape with no apparent direction of movement from one radar scan to the next. True rain echoes normally have a consistent direction of movement. This radar is often unable to detect light showers or drizzle beyond a range of 100 kilometres. Heavy rain over the radar site will cause attenuation of all signals. Path attenuation also occurs when the radar beam passes through an intense thunderstorm cell; the returned signal from cells further along that path will be reduced. Apart from these features, the radar performs well and gives a reasonably accurate representation of rainfall intensity.