This paper carries out theoretical analysis on blind area of meteorological radar and the Radar Cross Section (RCS),in order to address the effect of lightning rod on radar echo.The RCS of lightning rods with different materials and sizes are studied by HFSS simulation and experiment under horizontal polarization.The simulation results show that,given the same rod material and radar wavelength,the RCS is positively related with the rod height and radius;given the same radar wavelength,the RCS is larger by rod with perfect metal than that with combined material of plastic steel and perfect metal.The experiment result indicates that the effect of lightning rod on weather radar echo can be ignored when the rod is installed near the X band Doppler radar.The result provides theoretical and practical reference for the installation of lightning rod near meteorological radar.