What weather radar do you use on your desktop?

May 26, 2019 8:10 PM

I want to use a free weather radar that will give me image smoothing, watches, warnings, and storm direction. I used to use Weather Underground's radar, but it's borked (for me, anyway). ZoomRadar isn't bad, but the controls don't work half the time. So what radar do you enjoy using? I'd be willing to learn about pay versions if they're $50 USD or less.
posted by bryon to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

If you're in the US, take a look at the National Weather Service site. While the interface is a little dated, all the data are there and I've actually found it nicer to use once I got used to it.
posted by Betelgeuse at 8:52 PM on May 26, 2019 [5 favorites]

GRLevel3 is the best. It's not free, but a single payment gets you a perpetual license, and it grabs data directly from the NWS' servers so there is no ongoing cost. You can pay a few bucks a month to get more reliable data feeds from AllisonHouse and Caprock, but the NWS feed is usually fine, though on really exciting weather days it can get a few minutes behind. Unless you're trying to use it to decide whether to take shelter from a tornado or something like that, the delay isn't a big deal.

You can trial the software for free to see if you like it enough to pay for it. Just don't mess with GRAnalyst unless you're OK with feeling a sudden compulsion to blow a few hundred bucks.
posted by wierdo at 9:20 PM on May 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

I use Windy.com and it is wonderful.
posted by erst at 9:24 PM on May 26, 2019 [8 favorites]

Best answer: I'm not sure if you are looking for mobile or desktop, but radarscope has iOS, Android, and windows versions. I like it quite a lot and it does everything you asked for. For Android at least,I believe it's the best app available.

Edit: just saw desktop in the title, hopefully it's windows.
posted by DJWeezy at 4:59 AM on May 27, 2019

Microsoft has developed a decent Weather app for Windows.
posted by Baphomet's Prime at 5:48 AM on May 27, 2019

Impactweather. its subscription based, government agencies use it
posted by patnok at 8:09 AM on May 27, 2019

I'm looking at windy.com and wondering why there's a hurricane Canada.
posted by waving at 5:41 PM on May 27, 2019

Pykl3radar is a better Android app, but the developer quit working on it so it's just a matter of time before it quits working entirely. Radarscope's payment model is abusive, IMO. Charging an ongoing subscription fee for basic features that don't involve the developers running servers to support (and therefore incurring ongoing costs that a subscription allows them to support) when they are already charging a one time fee for the app itself isn't something I can support.
posted by wierdo at 1:51 PM on May 29, 2019

erst, thank you for windy.com. It took me a while to figure enough of it out to use, but it was well worth it.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 5:42 AM on May 30, 2019