What role does radar weather maps play in war?

During World War II, radar was first used in the military field. They tried to use the reflection of the radio beam to find the enemy aircraft, but their plans were hampered by the chaotic reflections caused by the rain. When scientists saw the chaos, they got excited. Because they found an instrument that can detect materials hidden behind clouds. Within a few years, radar became a standard tool for studying storms. Scientists even used radar to discover the relationship between air circulation above clouds and the rotation of tornadoes on the ground.

Conventional radar has its limitations. When the storm moves, the reflected waves (microwave returns) from the radar observer also move, but the movement inside the storm is mostly lost due to the huge white water droplets. But in the 1950s, researchers developed a new type of radar called Doppler radar. It detects movement within clouds, and Doppler radar now plays an important role in improving weather forecasting capabilities, predicting the development of short-term severe storms.

Radar releases microwaves, which are bounced back by matter in the air. When Doppler radar reflects microwaves, it can clearly detect small changes in the wave frequency. If a drop of rainwater hits a radar, the frequency of the wave reflected by it will increase; conversely, as the droplet moves farther and farther away from the radar, the frequency of the wave will decrease. This wave frequency law was discovered by Australian physicist Doppler in 1842. He explains why train whistles sound louder when a train is approaching and become less loud as a train moves away. At first, Doppler radar was cumbersome. Computers are also unable to undertake the data calculation process. By the 1970s, tornado researchers were using Doppler radar to detect several storms. By the early 1980s, scientists used Doppler radar swarms to show the three-dimensional structure of storms and explain the existence of microexplosions that threatened aircraft.