ABSTRACT
Since its deployment, the precipitation estimates from the network of National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Surveillance Radars-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) have become widely used. These precipitation estimates are used for the žash žood warning program at NWS Weather Forecast Of–ces (WFOs) and the hydrologic program at NWS River Forecast Centers (RFCs), and they also show potential as an input data set for drought monitoring. However, radar-based precipitation estimates can contain considerable error because of radar limitations such as range degradation and radar beam blockage or false precipitation estimates from anomalous propagation (AP) of the radar beam itself. Because of these errors, for operational applications, the RFCs adjust the WSR-88D precipitation estimates using a multisensor approach. The primary goal of this approach is to reduce both areal-mean and local bias errors in radar-derived precipitation by using rain gauge data so that the –nal estimate of rainfall is better than an estimate from a single sensor.
