To get more information about the location of lightning, the user walks over to the display and selects an area of heavy precipitation, as indicated by areas of yellow and orange. Such an area is referred to as a storm cell. In this case, the window indicates that there is lightning around LaGuardia airport and that the radar echo tops of the storms in that area extend to 33,000 feet. The user is also able to obtain information about the motion of the heavy precipitation, or storm cells. The cyan lines indicate the location and anticipated motion of a storm cell.
Solid lines indicate the leading edge of the storm cell.
The dotted lines indicate the projected locations of the leading edge 10 and 20 minutes in the future. Purple lines indicate the size, shape, and orientation of a gust front. Once again, the solid line represents the current location and the dotted lines represent the projected locations 10 and 20 minutes in the future. The purple arrow indicates the speed and direction of the winds behind the gust front. By anticipating weather impacts, aircraft can be routed proactively to minimize congestion in the skies and provide shorter routes.