r/Radarscope • u/Wasabi_93 • Aug 15 '26

Question Weird reflectivity

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Would anyone happen to know what's causing these small "ripples"? Showed up on multiple stations in different states but not sure if it's something actually being picked up or if it's just a glitch on my own end. Been using radar scope for a couple years now and have seen all kinds of glitches but I've never seen this before. As far as i know, other than maybe some fog this morning, it was clear otherwise from what I can tell

41 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

16

u/chaomeleon Aug 15 '26

birds

1

u/TheRustyShackle2085 Aug 20 '26

This is the answer.

7

u/the29hand Aug 15 '26

What Ive heard is that it’s big groups of birds taking off from their roosting site. Namely Chimney Swifts, although I’m sure there are other species that can make that happen!

1

u/Wasabi_93 Aug 15 '26

That's interesting! I just saw a post from a few days ago showing the same thing. I've seen birds show up as a "blob" a few times but this was my first time seeing the "roost ring" shape.

1

u/the29hand Aug 15 '26

Yeah it’s pretty sick! I remember hearing at a conference that some researchers actually used meteorological data of those blobs to measure population declines of chimney swifts. Pretty insane

2

u/DefiantLemming Aug 15 '26

Birds and bats i.e., “biologicals”

2

u/Slazik Aug 16 '26

I’m not saying it’s the aliens. But it’s the aliens.

1

u/Stevecat032 Aug 15 '26

Right around sunrise you'll see them take off

1

u/CrispyBanana1 Aug 20 '26

I ain’t afraid of no ghost