Tornado radar dish used to measure snow?

University of Utah meteorologists are using radar dishes mounted on vehicles to measure snow and rainfall in depth. The study area is in the Wasatch mountains near Salt Lake City. The dish is an X-band polametric dish that measures wind speeds in excess of 300mph. The dish broadcasts waves both vertically and horizontally, which is more powerful than the national weather services dishes. The dish can measure the size of raindrops and snowflakes in great detail and collect data in hard to reach areas. So far the truck mounted radar has measured 10 different winter storms as of October. This would be a part of the developmental paradigm, and I am very excited to see the future of this technology.



Radar image of lake effect snow from The Great Salt Lake

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111110094846.htm