Weather radar site or app to replace radar.weather.gov?

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Gsand31415

Guest
I had favorites set on my iphone for radar.weather.gov for my favorite stompin grounds, the PNW and FL. I had saved them with a black background and state and county lines drawn, looping. Bringing up the favorites would give me an animated radar map in about 2 seconds, allowing me to make hour by hour decisions about outside activities or going out on a boat. It could easily be read in bright sunlight.

NWS has replaced the site with an "improved" site that takes forever to load, will not effectively loop, and turned the formerly green light rain color to gray, all on a tan background that loads the entire CONUS without the ability to have separate favorites set for regions. You can't read it in bright sunlight due to the poor contrast between rain and terrain when you are zoomed in on a mountainous region.

I've tried a few free weather radar apps but they take a long time to load and half of the screen is filled with menus and advertising. My complaints are not unique:

Being pretty much stuck at home for the time being, I haven't started investigating paid apps yet. For now I am getting by with Aldergrove radar (thanks, Canada!) but that's not going to be much help once I hit the road and go below 45 degrees N.

Canadian Weather Radar - Environment Canada

Environment Canada's weather web site provides official weather warnings, current conditions, forecasts, and weather models, for public and marine areas in Canada. Canadian weather RADAR, tropical storm tracking, lightning activity, UV index, and AQHI index values also available.
weather.gc.ca weather.gc.ca

Any suggestions?
 
ches

ches

Active member
Any suggestions?
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I have not tried it on my phone but on my computer I use Weather Underground and their Wondermap. You can set your own settings on the Wondermap which include radar, temp/wind, and fronts. It includes and uses a lot of data. Hope that helps.
 
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Gsand31415

Guest
Phone access is a must, both for while driving and out on my boat. Fishing is best in the Gulf in summer, and having a live map allows me to go out in thunderstorm weather. In general, the storms stay over land and it's nice on the gulf, but by watching the clouds and a radar animation, I can high-tail it into my channel before any nasty weather hits (I don't go out more than 5 miles when fishing, and can run in at 25 mph if the swells aren't too bad). Being able to predict within 15 minutes when a squall line will hit is one of those "amaze your family and friends" talents, and I don't see how I can do that anymore.
 
autostaretx

autostaretx

Erratic Member
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rollerbearing

Well-known member
Thanks for the radar station code list pdf. Wouldn't take much to write an app to create a web link to the loop gif for the chosen city.
 
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Gsand31415

Guest
Many thanks, Rollerbearing! The color scheme I disliked on the terrain map works well on the spare white background, and the GIFs open instantly from the favorites I programmed into my iPhone.
Prior to a road trip, it should be little trouble to make a set of favorites for the radar sites along the route.
 
G

Gsand31415

Guest
tom2turbo said:
“MyRadar” is the IPhone app for me
Click to expand...
It took forever to download from where I'm living (one or two bar LTE Verizon coverage), but now that it finished it does look very good. Thanks for the tip.
 
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rollerbearing

Well-known member
Gsand31415 said:
I had favorites set on my iphone for radar.weather.gov for my favorite stompin grounds, the PNW and FL. I had saved them with a black background and state and county lines drawn, looping. Bringing up the favorites would give me an animated radar map in about 2 seconds, allowing me to make hour by hour decisions about outside activities or going out on a boat. It could easily be read in bright sunlight.

NWS has replaced the site with an "improved" site that takes forever to load, will not effectively loop, and turned the formerly green light rain color to gray, all on a tan background that loads the entire CONUS without the ability to have separate favorites set for regions. You can't read it in bright sunlight due to the poor contrast between rain and terrain when you are zoomed in on a mountainous region.

I've tried a few free weather radar apps but they take a long time to load and half of the screen is filled with menus and advertising. My complaints are not unique:

Being pretty much stuck at home for the time being, I haven't started investigating paid apps yet. For now I am getting by with Aldergrove radar (thanks, Canada!) but that's not going to be much help once I hit the road and go below 45 degrees N.

Canadian Weather Radar - Environment Canada

Environment Canada's weather web site provides official weather warnings, current conditions, forecasts, and weather models, for public and marine areas in Canada. Canadian weather RADAR, tropical storm tracking, lightning activity, UV index, and AQHI index values also available.
weather.gc.ca weather.gc.ca

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Good Ol' NCAR


Link:

Radar page: RAP Real-Time Weather

weather.rap.ucar.edu


Map that can be used with loop.gif's if desired:

49CF2275-E2C9-4ADA-9C71-1F06867DB875.gif





Still available radar product AND you can display loops as well as set background color.

E32906BB-2D78-4EAA-B39C-E2AF72EE17ED.png
 
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pygmyowl

New member
NOAA WX discussion for your area is my go to site. Might spend some time with Windy.com- lots of information there.
 
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