Johann Christian Doppler, an Austrian physicist, first related observed frequency changes in sound and light to motion of the source or observer in 1842. He developed mathematical formulas to describe this phenomenon which is now called the "Doppler effect". Doppler radar was developed a century later during World War II for detecting the location and speed of military targets. 

During the late 1950's the US NWS conducted trials of a Doppler radar modified by Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory from a surplus military radar. Although primitive by today's standards, this system showed winds of 200 mph apparently associated with a tornado near El Dorado, Kansas on June 10, 1958. During the same period, Probert-Jones in Britain and Lhermitte in France each used Doppler radars to gather data on velocities and drop size distributions in precipitation.

In 1967, the first simultaneous observations of atmospheric flow fields by two ("dual") Doppler radars were made. This was performed by the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in central Oklahoma; and concurrently in England by the Royal Radar Establishment. Data from these studies were stored in real time and analyzed later. About the same time, the first real time Doppler radar display, the Plan Shear Indicator, was developed by the US Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories.

In the early 1970's a unique, new class of high-powered, sophisticated S-band Doppler weather radars appeared, incorporating integrated circuitry and advanced computer processing. Real-time processors were linked to colour displays on these radar systems as technology made it possible.