The PWS100 measures visibility by the amount of light that scatters off the particles in the sensing volume, and thus, it cannot measure visibility reduction because of absorption. However, because reduction of visibility by airborne particles is dominated by the scattering effect, the PWS100 is able to measure reduced visibility because of sand, dust, and smoke. The value, however, is less accurate and reads slightly higher for blowing dust, sand, or smoke than for precipitation.