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A description is given of methods by which empirical relations may be corrected for the effects of drop size distribution truncation. Empirical relations derived from experimental drop size spectra are used to demonstrate these effects. It is shown that the most accurate method of performing these corrections involves the assumption of a gamma drop size distribution and a correction applied to each of the experimental spectra. In lieu of this approach, the correction may be applied post hoc provided a priori knowledge of the drop size distribution shape is available.

Relationships between radar reflectivity factor and rainfall rate for attenuating wavelengths are derived which are more general than traditional power law relations. They are useful for producing more accurate measurements of rainfall rate R and for estimation of the errors in R due to errors in the measurement of reflectivity factor. A method is also presented which provides for accurate computation of the rainfall rate in the case where the drop size distribution can be approximated by a gamma distribution.