A321 Captain reported while climbing out the Weather Radar failed during a thunderstorm forecast route. The flight received special handling to the departure airport where a safe landing was executed after also sustaining a bird strike on short final.

Narrative

Climbing out from ZZZ enroute to ZZZ1; I selected the radar on. After a few minutes; I noticed a red 'WXR ANT' message on the Navigation Display (ND); and felt and heard a grinding sensation at my feet; seeming to originate from the radome. Subsequently; the radar returns disappeared from the ND. As there were thunderstorms forecast along the STAR and over our destination at our time of arrival; I called Dispatch and Maintenance Control to formulate a plan. After consulting with them along with the First Officer; I decided the best course of action would be to return to ZZZ. Weather was building to the North of ZZZ and I decided it was prudent to land quickly. As we were initially forecasting a possible overweight landing; I [requested priority handling] with ATC per the FOM. We complied with the QRH overweight landing procedure and started the APU to burn extra fuel; and notified the Flight Attendants and the passengers about the precautionary landing. As we approached ZZZ and were vectored around weather; we were able to burn enough fuel to land approximately 1;000 pounds below max landing weight. When on short final; we sustained a bird strike to the radome; which we reported to ATC. The FAA bird strike report was also completed. As we accomplished an otherwise normal landing; we notified Airport Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) that an inspection was not required and we could taxi to the gate. They followed us to the gate per procedure. I made Logbook entries for the radar failure and bird strike.Cause: This diversion was necessitated by the failure of our onboard weather radar. With thunderstorms forming on the arrival and forecast in the terminal area at our destination; I decided to return to ZZZ. As ZZZ was expecting weather as well; I decided it would be best to land quickly; possibly necessitating in an overweight landing.Suggestions: Other than running the radar on the ground for several minutes before departure; I don't believe there is a realistic way to mitigate the chance of a radar failure in the air. The bird strike could not have safely been avoided.