I can’t fill Noel’s shoes- but I feel like someone should continue his Key West radar project. I don’t know how long I can keep it up, but here it goes.

Last night a small flight of birds left from Cuba to the lower Keys. It’s not much, but with the strong easterly winds over the past few nights it’s just nice to see something moving! Northeasterly winds are forecast for tonight, so I wouldn’t expect much until they switch around. The 48 hour model forecast does call for some southerly winds over Cuba, so keep your fingers crossed.

Here are the reflectivity and velocity images from sunset last night through sunrise this morning. I know Noel didn’t post the velocity images, but the information they provide helps determine the speed and direction of movement across the radar, and also helps determine whether the images represent birds, or some other information such as pollen, dust, or insects. To read the velocity image, note that cool colors represent objects moving toward the radar, and warm colors represent objects moving away from the radar, allowing you to determine the overall direction of movement across the radar. Birds tend to migrate >10 – 15 kts faster than the prevailing winds, whereas insects etc. tend to fly at the prevailing wind speed. All objects seen moving last night appear to have done so at speeds in excess of 25 kts, faster than the prevailing wind speed even given the easterly component that birds are correcting for.

Frames are every 1/2 hour:


Click on the images to see the animation.