Image Muting of Mixed Precipitation to Improve Identification of Regions of Heavy Snow from Radar Data

The dual polarization correlation coefficient field from National Weather Service NEXRAD radars helps to identify regions that are likely to contain melting snow. High correlation coefficient values indicate areas with purely liquid or ice particles while lower values of correlation coefficient indicate mixed precipitation types. Even experienced meteorologists can mistake regions of partially melted precipitation for heavy snow because of the high cognitive load associated with comparing data in two fields while simultaneously attempting to discount a portion of the high reflectivity values. Rather than presenting reflectivity and correlation coefficient as separate fields or overlaid fields, we mute the high reflectivity values corresponding with correlation coefficient values less than 0.97 by displaying those values in gray scale to allow only the high reflectivity regions associated with heavy snowfall or rain to take visual prominence. This technique will be useful for decision makers monitoring real-time weather conditions during winter storms and for analysis of winter precipitation events.