Rain Rates
Rainfall rate is a measure of the intensity of rainfall. It is measured by calculating the amount of rain that falls to the earth surface per unit area per unit of time. This image (right) is a sample base reflectivity image from the Doppler Radar from Hurricane Katrina coming ashore in Southeast Florida in August 2005. The colors represent the strength of returned energy to the radar expressed in values of decibels (dBZ). The table to the right shows how the color scale for the dBZ values are used to approximate rainfall rates.
