Weather question.

[Pam G.]

I didn't really know where to put this question so here the question what is shared rate that I hear some weather men talk about in weather, I it the measurement of rain in a storm cloud or tornados?

 

[WesL]

Hey Pam! Good to see you again. I think you are talking about Shear Rate. So imagine you are standing in a field and you have your arms straight out. (Sound of Music pic provided as a reference...



Instead of the hills being alive with the sound of music the wind is howling. On the left hand, you can feel the wind blowing from behind you and on your right hand, you can feel the wind blowing in the opposite direction towards you. You are at the sheer point where the winds are going in opposite directions.



On radar, we look at the velocity of the winds on a red and green scale. The red indicates wind blowing away from the radar and green indicates winds blowing towards the radar. Based on the speed of the winds we can estimate the sheer rate which tells us the potential of a rotation at that point.

A much better explanation can be found at https://www.koco.com/article/severe-weather-terms-what-is-gate-to-gate-shear/9168233 where I've borrowed the above image for educational purposes

 

[Pam G.]

Oh,OK. It measurement of the gate or inner part of the tornados wind. Thanks.