Track active weather with NOAA’s new radar viewer

Webpage offers radar scans more frequently and with 4 times greater detail

The radar image depicts a line of showers and thunderstorms moving through parts of eastern Texas and western Louisiana. The radome (tower; right) is located at NOAA's National Weather Service office in El Paso, Texas.

The radar image depicts a line of showers and thunderstorms moving through parts of eastern Texas and western Louisiana. The radome (tower; right) is located at NOAA's National Weather Service office in El Paso, Texas. (Image credit: NOAA NWS)

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Meteorologists rely on weather radar to see developing storms, and now you can, too. 

NOAA’s new interactive radar viewer webpage with expanded radar data will allow you to observe the type and movement of precipitation falling from the sky. Looking at several radar images over a period of time —  or a radar loop — can offer clues about where and how fast the rain or snow is falling. A radar loop can also help show if the hazard is growing or shrinking in the area or if it is becoming more intense; it can even see precipitation in the dark or when it's cloudy.  

Radar can track rain and snow, and see potential for flash floods

On the new page, radar data can be layered with National Weather Service watches, warnings and forecasts and is presented on a dynamic map that allows zooming and panning. And we also provide radar images more frequently and at four times higher resolution than before. Weather radar can track rain and snow, and see potential for flash flooding.

Plus: The new GIS-based webpage delivers radar data in a more flexible format, so emergency managers can incorporate that data into their own situational awareness databases to help them make local decisions. 

NOAA's new Radar Viewer webpage can be saved on your mobile device home screen just like an app, so you can use this powerful weather monitoring tool on the go.
NOAA's new Radar Viewer webpage can be saved on your mobile device home screen just like an app, so you can use this powerful weather monitoring tool on the go. (NOAA NWS)
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The radar webpage can be saved on your mobile device home screen just like an app, so you can use this powerful weather monitoring tool on the go. 

Other improvements include: 

  • Access to certain dual-polarization radar products to help differentiate between precipitation types, such as rain and snow;

  •  More radar data, including 159 NEXRAD Doppler radars and 45 Terminal Doppler Weather Radars. For times when a single radar is out of service, you still have coverage since radar beams overlap;

  • Ability to customize data to any domain, and data layer preferences can be saved or bookmarked;

  • Radar animation loops can be saved, shared and used on social media;

  • The new page’s infrastructure allows for easy integration of new datasets, like satellite imagery, in the future; and

  • The webpage is more reliable now that it's on an operationally supported system 24/7.

We added new features to the radar viewer based on feedback we received from the public and emergency management community. Be sure to check out these video tutorials and frequently asked questions to help you get started using the site. 

Got radar? You do now: Grab your mobile device and head to radar.weather.gov.

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