Pro radar, satellite and forecast models

Every radar. Every scan.

ScoutWx puts every NEXRAD and TDWR radar in the United States and about 140 radars across Europe on one full-screen map, at every tilt and at each radar’s own resolution, minutes after each sweep. The National Weather Service’s storm tracks, every NWS alert and live lightning ride on top. Switch to Satellite for GOES imagery, or to Forecast to loop 15 models on the same map.

Coming soon to the App Store See what it shows

For iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo. Requires iOS 17 or later.

Radar

The whole volume, not just the bottom of it.

Step up through every elevation the radar is scanning, one tilt at a time, at the radar’s own resolution. Super-resolution reflectivity, NWS-dealiased velocity, storm-relative velocity with the NWS storm motion or your own, and the full dual-pol set.

SAILS and MRLE rescans of the lowest tilt land in the loop as they’re scanned. Loops run up to 120 scans, and playback waits for each frame to draw in full.

ScoutWx on iPhone: KEVX base reflectivity at 0.5 degrees, Hurricane Isaias’s rain bands under warnings, with storm tracks and lightning — Base reflectivity at 0.5° from KEVX, Eglin AFB

Reflectivity: Super-resolution base reflectivity at every tilt, the radar’s own composite, TDWR long range
Velocity: NWS-dealiased base velocity, Level II velocity at every tilt, storm-relative velocity, spectrum width
Dual-pol: ZDR, CC, PHI, KDP and hydrometeor classification
Precipitation: One-hour, three-hour, 24-hour and storm-total rainfall, and rain rate
Other: Vertically integrated liquid and enhanced echo tops
U.S. mosaic: MRMS reflectivity, rain rate and totals, hail size, rotation tracks, echo tops, VIL and lightning

ScoutWx on iPhone: the storm sheet for cell W3 on KEVX, moving north-northwest at 31 knots, with its hail and core — Storm W3 on KEVX: its track, hail and core

Storm tracks

Where it’s been. Where it’s going.

The National Weather Service’s own storm algorithms, on the radar you’re looking at: each cell’s past positions and its forecast at 15-minute steps, with hail, mesocyclones and tornado vortex signatures. Tap a storm for its motion, hail, core and rotation.

Step back through the loop and every scan shows the storms as the radar saw them then.

Past positions and forecast
Mesocyclone
Tornado vortex signature
Hail

NWS alerts

Every alert, drawn as it stood at each scan.

Every alert the National Weather Service issues, from tornado warnings to heat advisories, plus the SPC’s and WPC’s mesoscale discussions. Each polygon revision is kept, so the loop shows the warning that was in force at every frame. Tap inside one for the threat, the timing and the full NWS text.

Storm-based warnings: Tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood, special marine, snow squall, extreme wind and dust storm
Watches: Tornado and severe thunderstorm watches
Discussions: SPC mesoscale discussions and WPC mesoscale precipitation discussions
By county or zone: Hurricane, tropical storm, storm surge, flood, winter, fire, heat and marine alerts

ScoutWx on iPhone: hurricane and tropical storm warnings, flood and tornado watches and mesoscale discussions from Mobile Bay to the Big Bend — Warnings, watches and discussions from Mobile Bay to the Big Bend

ScoutWx on iPhone: the alert sheet for an NWS Tallahassee Tornado Warning with 24 minutes left, radar indicated, and the warning’s text — A Tornado Warning from NWS Tallahassee, with its time left and full text

Lightning

Lightning from orbit, about a minute after the flash.

Flashes over the Americas from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper on GOES-East and GOES-West, drawn over any product. Each scan shows the lightning leading up to it, fading over a trail you set from 5 to 30 minutes.

Under 1 min
1–5 min
5–10 min
10–15 min

ScoutWx on iPhone: GOES infrared of Hurricane 20E off Mexico’s Pacific coast, lightning in the eyewall, the inspector reading cloud tops of minus 78.7 °C, minus 110 °F, from GOES-East — Hurricane 20E in infrared: −78.7 °C cloud tops, read from GOES-East

Satellite

The view from 22,000 miles up.

Switch the product picker to Satellite for GOES-East and GOES-West imagery, a new frame every 5 minutes, looped like the radar with lightning and alerts on top. Press and hold for the cloud-top temperature in °C with °F beside it, and the satellite that saw it.

Radar Satellite Forecast

Infrared: Cloud-top temperature, day and night. The coldest tops, where storms are, are in color.
Cloud cover: Clouds in white over the map, clear sky see-through. Day and night.
Visible: Clouds as the eye sees them, in the finest detail. Daylight only.
Water vapor: Moisture high in the atmosphere, day and night: moist in white and blue, dry in orange.

Forecast

Same map, 15 forecast models.

Loop the global models, the high-resolution ones over North America, three ensembles and the hurricane models, latest run first and earlier runs a tap away. Pressure and precipitation by type, temperature, wind and gusts, rain and snow totals, CAPE, helicity, 500 mb vorticity, the jet and ensemble spaghetti.

ScoutWx on iPhone in Forecast mode: the GFS 12Z run’s mean sea-level pressure and precipitation by type at 12 hours, the storm inland near Mobile — The GFS 12Z run’s pressure and precipitation by type, 12 hours out

The models
Model	From	Grid	Out to
Global
GFS	NOAA	0.25°	384 h
ECMWF IFS	ECMWF	0.25°	360 h
AIFS	ECMWF	0.25°	360 h
AIGFS	NOAA	0.25°	384 h
ICON	DWD	13 km	180 h
GDPS	ECCC	0.15°	240 h
North America
HRRR	NOAA	3 km	48 h
NBM	NWS	2.5 km	264 h
RDPS	ECCC	10 km	84 h
HRDPS	ECCC	2.5 km	48 h
Ensembles
GEFS	NOAA	31 members, 0.5°	384 h
ECMWF ENS	ECMWF	50 members, 0.25°	360 h
AIFS ENS	ECMWF	50 members, 0.25°	360 h
Hurricanes
HAFS-A	NOAA	2 km storm nest	126 h
HAFS-B	NOAA	2 km storm nest	126 h

Each model is credited on screen. ECMWF and Deutscher Wetterdienst data under CC BY 4.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada data under ECCC’s end-use license, NOAA data in the public domain.

Europe

Europe’s radars, at every tilt.

About 140 radars in 20 countries from EUMETNET OPERA’s open data, each with the products and tilts it sends, beside the continental composite, rain rate and one-hour rainfall. Pan from one continent to the other and ScoutWx offers to switch.

Radars: ~140
Countries: 20
Composite: 5 min

Radar data: EUMETNET OPERA, CC BY 4.0, credited on screen wherever it shows.

ScoutWx on iPhone: the EUMETNET OPERA composite over central and southeastern Europe, with Europe’s radars marked — The OPERA composite, from the Baltic to the Balkans

Read any point

Down to a single gate, and the ground beneath it.

ScoutWx on iPhone: the inspector reading 40.5 dBZ, 99 miles south-southwest of KEVX, beam height 9,373 feet

Press and hold.

The value under the crosshair, the hydrometeor class or range folding, and the beam height there. Drag the crosshair, or let it follow the loop.

ScoutWx on iPhone: Pensacola International Airport’s decoded report, 71 degrees, IFR in heavy rain and mist

Ground truth under the storm.

Live readings from personal weather stations on the Dank Weather network and decoded airport METARs show the conditions on the ground under the echo.

iPhone Duo and iPad

Open it up. Two maps, in step.

On iPhone Duo the open screen becomes two pages: one map across both, the map beside the product list, or two maps in step, each with its own radar, product or model. On iPhone and iPad, portrait or landscape, with full screen a tap away.

ScoutWx on iPhone Duo, open: KMHX reflectivity on the left page and velocity on the right, a line of cells along the North Carolina coast under a tornado watch — Reflectivity and velocity from KMHX, side by side

ScoutWx on iPhone Duo, open: the HRRR’s simulated reflectivity beside KMHX reflectivity — The HRRR’s simulated reflectivity beside the radar

Read the storm yourself.

Coming soon to the App Store

For iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo. Requires iOS 17 or later.