World Weather Radar Database

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Chris_in_Tampa
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World Weather Radar Database

#1 Postby Chris_in_Tampa » Fri Nov 13, 2020 2:01 pm

Update on October 11th, 2022:



The radar database now exists here:
http://tropicalglobe.com/radar_database/

It now has over 1,500 radar sites. I have added the ability to export the database to Google Earth, a spreadsheet or an HTML file.



Previous post:



I created a database of weather radars around the world. It has about 1,300 individual radars:
http://tropicalatlantic.com/radars/

There are a few databases that already exist, but I verified the position of each radar using satellite imagery. Some of the other databases use estimates.

Eventually I plan to add other options, like exporting data to Google Earth and viewing data from certain countries.

A little more about it:



For the United States, only NEXRAD and Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) sites are displayed, not radar sites from television stations. (we might eventually add those too) For other countries, we mostly only include radar sites from government agencies, though we would be interested in adding others as well, especially if there is less coverage for that area available.

The ranges on the map indicate the maximum range of publicly available data, either currently available or in the past. Because of obstacles, such as mountains, the range noted for many radars does not indicate the actual coverage of the radar. Additionally, while some radars have long ranges, due to the curvature of the Earth the radar will not be able to see lower levels at these extended ranges.

The primary source for our database was the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) Weather Radar Database. (about) Most of the radar sites on our map come from their database. A second primary source was RainViewer, an app displaying radar data around the world. While they also use the data in the WMO database, they also had many additional radars in their database. RainViewer has links to radar data here for many countries and has a map of those radar sites here. Some of the European radar data was also found using EUMETNET's OPERA Database. (Operational Programme for the Exchange of Weather Radar Information from the Network of European Meteorological Services) You can learn more about their database here. Many other sources were used as well.

Some of the radar locations in the sources we used are estimated. We verified the location of each radar in our database using satellite imagery. The coordinates we use are not official. We used coordinates we selected based on the location of the radar in Google Earth.
Last edited by Chris_in_Tampa on Tue Oct 11, 2022 3:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: World Weather Radar Database

#2 Postby chaser1 » Sun Nov 15, 2020 9:57 pm

Chris, this was a bold effort but was a "fail" following my first effort to access and use. First, I think your concept of having a world map where one can simply click on a noted radar site is great.... but it doesn't seem to work properly. Case in point - I clicked on the one single radar point available on your map for Belize. Instead of instantly taking me to an actual radar site in Belize, the link went directly to another page showing all Central America with a "Belize Radar site" highlighted. Okay, this seemed redundant but I again clicked "Belize Weather Radar" that was highlighted in green at the bottom of the page. BOOM, the Belize radar....... does NOT appear. Instead, I'm looking at a RainViewer 2 web page telling me how wonderful this app is and varying links showing how one can download the App for Iphone, Android, etc. But wait, all hope is not lost yet! There is a link on the page that states "Go to Live Map". So now this is beginning to feel much more clunky then simply clicking on a name of a city or country and easily having a radar pull up as advertised. Regardless, I go ahead and click this button to finally see the Belize radar. What happened next just made me laugh. THAT link opened up some radar site depicting precipitation over Eastern Cuba, Jamaica, and Haiti (while showing zero precip over Belize, Honduras, or Nicaragua). It not only could not link to any radar depiction in Belize, but was nothing more then some patch-quilt radar for an altogether different region then what I began seeking.

Bottom line, my first try was a fail and I simply clicked "X" and deleted the page. Your idea was a noble one but I'd personally drop RainViewer like the rock it is. There must be one or more reliable radar sources that you could pair with those government operated sites for your project. Best of luck going forward.
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Chris_in_Tampa
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Re: World Weather Radar Database

#3 Postby Chris_in_Tampa » Mon Nov 16, 2020 4:11 pm

chaser1 wrote:Chris, this was a bold effort but was a "fail" following my first effort to access and use. First, I think your concept of having a world map where one can simply click on a noted radar site is great.... but it doesn't seem to work properly. Case in point - I clicked on the one single radar point available on your map for Belize. Instead of instantly taking me to an actual radar site in Belize, the link went directly to another page showing all Central America with a "Belize Radar site" highlighted. Okay, this seemed redundant but I again clicked "Belize Weather Radar" that was highlighted in green at the bottom of the page. BOOM, the Belize radar....... does NOT appear. Instead, I'm looking at a RainViewer 2 web page telling me how wonderful this app is and varying links showing how one can download the App for Iphone, Android, etc. But wait, all hope is not lost yet! There is a link on the page that states "Go to Live Map". So now this is beginning to feel much more clunky then simply clicking on a name of a city or country and easily having a radar pull up as advertised. Regardless, I go ahead and click this button to finally see the Belize radar. What happened next just made me laugh. THAT link opened up some radar site depicting precipitation over Eastern Cuba, Jamaica, and Haiti (while showing zero precip over Belize, Honduras, or Nicaragua). It not only could not link to any radar depiction in Belize, but was nothing more then some patch-quilt radar for an altogether different region then what I began seeking.

Bottom line, my first try was a fail and I simply clicked "X" and deleted the page. Your idea was a noble one but I'd personally drop RainViewer like the rock it is. There must be one or more reliable radar sources that you could pair with those government operated sites for your project. Best of luck going forward.

Sorry you had issues. On the page itself, not within the map itself, the link to the Belize radar was out of date. It was correct in the map. Some of these radar sites change the locations of where the data is and it's hard to keep track of the 1,300 radars listed. I updated the page, below the map, with the correct link.

Old link:
http://www.hydromet.gov.bz/observations ... #gallery-5

Correct link:
http://nms.gov.bz/sensors/radar-imagery/

Also, in the map itself, there was a note about the Belize radar not working, but I forgot to add that note to the page itself where I also list the Belize radar. I added that now. When I make an update I have to update the map and the page itself if the main link to imagery has changed or if a radar is not working and I need to note it. I forget to do both sometimes.

I don't understand how you got to a RainViewer link. I only used that as a reference for some of where the radar sites were located. I only mention them here on the page:

"A second primary source was RainViewer, an app displaying radar data around the world. While they also use the data in the WMO database, they also had many additional radars in their database. RainViewer has links to radar data here for many countries and has a map of those radar sites here."

I don't actually link to their live radar product, just those two pages, unless I have a mistake somewhere. I just wanted to credit them for finding the locations of some of the radar sites. (Then I verified them all with satellite imagery) When the Belize site does work, it is in their product.

I don't actually display any of the radar data on a map, only links to mostly government sites. For the U.S. I link to Weather Underground, but otherwise most every other link might actually be to a government site. I haven't gotten around to adding TV stations in U.S. from private companies. I think there are a few private companies I link to that own a radar and have the data only on their site so I have to link to their site. There are also a few universities I link to I think that have radars. RainViewer tries to actually display data on the map, but I don't. I just wanted an accurate location of the radars, and their ranges of publicly available imagery, and spent a couple thousand hours searching over several years.

I still don't know what link you clicked to get here:

"Instead of instantly taking me to an actual radar site in Belize, the link went directly to another page showing all Central America with a "Belize Radar site" highlighted."

When you click the red dot for Belize on the map a window pops up. The first thing in the window is where the link to data is. That might be confusing. Click the word "Belize". Normally, that goes to the web page for the radar. But right now it is not working and hasn't for months at least. (it has said it is under maintenance) That is why I don't draw the range on the map right now. But it's hard to keep track, manually, of what radars sites are working. (hundreds of links to check, with 1,300 individual radars on the map) For some of the Caribbean radar sites, Barbados has a nice composite radar of the entire Caribbean and separate imagery for various regions of the Caribbean. I always leave those links there, even if the radar isn't working for the radar site you clicked. When the Belize radar is working, data from it does appear on those composite images listed. There is the main link for the composite imagery and then I list the regions of the Caribbean where the Belize radar would normally appear. There is also a Curacao composite map where the Belize radar data also appears when it works.

If anyone has any other questions or issues, let me know. I am working on other areas of my site right now and it will be awhile before I get to improving the radar display with other options. (though I do correct radar links when people let me know)
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