What Is BWER?
A hole of weak radar returns poking up into a storm, surrounded by heavy precipitation. It marks an updraft so strong that rain and hail have no time to form in it. In technical terms: A bounded weak echo region: a vertically oriented, reflectivity-minimum channel in the mid-levels of a storm, capped by an overhang of high reflectivity, indicating an intense, often rotating updraft (commonly over 25-50 m/s).
Also called: Bounded Weak Echo Region, Vault
BWER In Plain English
A hole of weak radar returns poking up into a storm, surrounded by heavy precipitation. It marks an updraft so strong that rain and hail have no time to form in it.
The Technical Definition
A bounded weak echo region: a vertically oriented, reflectivity-minimum channel in the mid-levels of a storm, capped by an overhang of high reflectivity, indicating an intense, often rotating updraft (commonly over 25-50 m/s); a hallmark of supercells and large hail potential.
Lessons That Use BWER
- Finding Tornadoes On Radar Unit 8: Tornadoes
