Radar shows butterfly migration
![](/images/abclogo_gray.png?x)
-
2:30
Mishawaka ‘Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area’ along riverwalk...
-
0:50
Saint Mary’s College breaks ground on Heritage and Research...
-
6:13
Rep. Rudy Yakym discusses Netanyahu’s address to Congress and...
-
3:41
Three civil rights lawsuits filed against Elkhart Police
-
1:03
The humidity returns, Sunday
-
1:57
Why the dew point is the best way to represent humidity
-
4:18
What is Project 2025 and why does it matter?
-
0:45
The South Bend Police Department hosts inaugural community track...
-
1:10
’A Rosie Place’ in South Bend welcomes new equine friend
-
1:42
Thanks to the weather, Michiana corn seeing rapid growth
-
4:10
Developing Downtowns: South Bend
-
2:25
After closure in 2020, YMCA reopens in downtown
Doppler radar is used to see the location of precipitation, but sometimes it picks up on other things in the sky as well. The National Weather Service in Boulder, Colorado made a unique sighting on Doppler radar Tuesday.
They originally thought that the reflectivity was picking up on migrating birds, but birds fly south at this time of year, not to the northwest. It turns out that it was a migration of monarch butterflies.
The left radar image shows the differential reflectivity, a high differential reflectivity like this shows that there was a large mass of wings flapping together. The mass of butterflies turned out to span over 70 miles! The right radar image is the regular reflectivity image. This shows that the radar beam is making contact with something in the sky that is moving together.
The National Weather Service received verification from spotters, who saw the thousands of butterflies flying through the sky. This is a rare occurrence, especially in the Denver area.