Exactly how does radar work?
As the radar antenna turns, it emits extremely short bursts of radio waves, called pulses. Each pulse lasts about 0.00000157 seconds (1.57x10-6), with a 0.00099843-second (998.43x10-6) "listening period" in between. The transmitted radio waves move through the atmosphere at about the speed of light.By recording the direction in which the antenna was pointed, the direction of the target is known as well. Generally, the better the target is at reflecting radio waves (i.e., more raindrops, larger hailstones, etc.), the stronger the reflected radio waves, or echo, will be.
