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Category 6 has moved! See the latest from Dr. Jeff Masters and Bob Henson here.Weather Underground Debuts Its Newest App: Storm
Fans of the widely-used Weather Underground app have cause to celebrate with today's release of the full-featured Storm app. The initial iOS release is downloadable free for iPhone and iPad through the App Store. Produced in a collaboration between WU and Intellicast, Storm builds on the usefulness and clean design of the main WU app, and the data and forecasting strengths of the two partners, to provide an array of new features designed with storm trackers and weather enthusiasts in mind.
High-definition radar: Storm provides access to data from the national network of NEXRAD radar sites at the top resolution available, with a razor-sharp 250 meters (800 feet) between data points. Users can view animations of past activity and extrapolations of current activity out to an hour ahead. When you select the radar nearest your location, a single-site sweeping feature displays reflectivity and velocity in near-real time.
Storm tracks: For each key area of current storm action identified by the app, Storm provides a strength rating, storm motion, precipitation rate, expected arrival times for the largest communities in the storm's path, any potential hazards (such as wind, hail, lightning, and tornadoes), and more.
Figure 1. The Storm app’s severe weather alert feature (shown here on the iPad) highlights real-time precipitation and lightning, along with any NWS watches, warnings, or advisories issued for the selected area.
Full-screen interactive map: The fully customizable Storm map interface allows you to display animated surface and jet-stream-level winds and fronts, as well as tropical data, severe weather alerts, and even earthquakes. I especially like the semi-transparent display of NWS watches, warnings, and advisories, which makes it easy to see where more than one type of alert is in effect. Also displayable: data from the WU network of more than 100,000 personal weather stations around the globe.
Customizable alerts and notifications: Users can be alerted of lightning, precipitation (within a 30-mile radius), and NWS warning polygons. The lightning alerts include a display of where cloud-to-ground lightning has struck in the last 15 minutes.
“Weather Underground and Intellicast have a long history of providing highly specialized weather information,” said Weather Underground manager Jim Menard “Recognizing the strengths of both companies, we decided to join forces to create the ultimate storm-tracking app.”
Figure 2. A single-site radar sweep on the Storm app’s iPhone interface.
High-definition radar: Storm provides access to data from the national network of NEXRAD radar sites at the top resolution available, with a razor-sharp 250 meters (800 feet) between data points. Users can view animations of past activity and extrapolations of current activity out to an hour ahead. When you select the radar nearest your location, a single-site sweeping feature displays reflectivity and velocity in near-real time.
Storm tracks: For each key area of current storm action identified by the app, Storm provides a strength rating, storm motion, precipitation rate, expected arrival times for the largest communities in the storm's path, any potential hazards (such as wind, hail, lightning, and tornadoes), and more.
Figure 1. The Storm app’s severe weather alert feature (shown here on the iPad) highlights real-time precipitation and lightning, along with any NWS watches, warnings, or advisories issued for the selected area.
Full-screen interactive map: The fully customizable Storm map interface allows you to display animated surface and jet-stream-level winds and fronts, as well as tropical data, severe weather alerts, and even earthquakes. I especially like the semi-transparent display of NWS watches, warnings, and advisories, which makes it easy to see where more than one type of alert is in effect. Also displayable: data from the WU network of more than 100,000 personal weather stations around the globe.
Customizable alerts and notifications: Users can be alerted of lightning, precipitation (within a 30-mile radius), and NWS warning polygons. The lightning alerts include a display of where cloud-to-ground lightning has struck in the last 15 minutes.
“Weather Underground and Intellicast have a long history of providing highly specialized weather information,” said Weather Underground manager Jim Menard “Recognizing the strengths of both companies, we decided to join forces to create the ultimate storm-tracking app.”
Figure 2. A single-site radar sweep on the Storm app’s iPhone interface.
The views of the author are his/her own and do not necessarily represent the position of The Weather Company or its parent, IBM.