Weather radars are important instruments for measuring precipitation. Traditional radars are based on a parabolic dish antenna. Mechanically rotating and tilting such an antenna takes a relatively long time, and as a result, parabolic-type radars can typically only perform sparse observations. So-called phased array weather radars (PAWRs) can obtain data with better spatial resolution much faster, as they consist of an array of smaller antennas that do not require to be moved. Hiroshi Kikuchi from the University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, and colleagues have now analysed the performance of a next-generation PAWR based in Japan: the X-Band Dual Polarized PAWR (DP-DAWR), installed in 2017 at Saitama University. Specifically, they assessed the instrument’s accuracy of precipitation measurements by comparing with data obtained from a disdrometer (a device used for measuring raindrop sizes and velocities).

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