Z/R Relationship Table

The table above shows WSR-88D Z/R relationships for sites used in the MARFC radar mosaic. A Z/R relationship is a empirical formula that is used to estimate rainfall rates from reflectivity signal strength.

The bias correction factor can only be computed if there are at least 10 gage-radar pairs with both values 0.03 inches or more. Sometimes, data has to be searched back several hours to find at least 10 such pairs.  The number of hours searched is shown preceding the bias factor. Bias factors are color-coded green if the radar estimates are within 15% tolerance of what the gages verify, or red otherwise. Values over 1.0 mean the radar is under-estimating. Values under 1.0 means the radar is over-estimating. This may seem counter-intuitive. To get the radar estimates to verify well with the gage values, the radar estimates would have to be multiplied by this bias factor shown for each radar.

Any cells with a yellow background under the "Last Reported" column indicate that the latest report is more than two hours old.  This most commonly occurs when the radar is down for maintenance.