[sgtnoodle]

The radar is looking at reflected analog signal bouncing off rain drops. I'm not too surprised an active transmitter blasting digital data can cause interference. Raw 802.11 packets can go several miles and be successfully picked up without corruption. The useful range is simply limited by the bit error rate exceeding what the forward error correction is capable of correcting. Also, each 802.11 frame preamble is transmitted at a relatively low symbol rate, maybe like 6Mbps for 5Ghz channels. Even if the data itself is at a higher rate that's spread over more spectrum, the preamble is going to maximally stick out; that's the whole point of it, to be maximally received by all radios.