Simulated Radar layer
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The Rain/Thunder layer seems to show something along the lines of 3 hours of accumulated rainfall for the forecast time.
Most weather models also provide an instantaneous simulated radar, which tells a different picture. It is difficult to tell based on ~3 hours of accumulated rainfall, whether a small or moderate amount of rain is due to a quick passing thunderstorm, or a slow drizzle.
For example, take tomorrow's 12pm EDT forecast. The HRRR on Windy:
The HRRR simulated radar on Tropical Tidbits:
Not a meteorologist, but to me these maps tell a different story. Windy's is ambiguous. You cannot make out the discrete storm cells. However, the simulated radar from TT clearly shows discrete cells which is possibly indicative of more significant convection and possible thunderstorm activity. Of course the weather models aren't accurate at predicting exactly where a cell will form, how intense it will be, and where it will be at a specific time, but just the understanding that it will be cell-like storm activity tells a much fuller picture, regarding what sorts of outdoor activities will be possible and appropriate tomorrow.
For this reason, I would really like it if we could get simulated radar in Windy - especially for the shorter range mesoscale models like NAM or HRRR that have a tight enough grid to resolve cells like this.
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@opevans If you're talking about the AGL Reflectivity and MSLP chart on tropical tidbits - keep in mind that you're comparing Windy's HRRR 3km model data and the AGL Reflectivity chart, which is 1km.
Wonder if it's part of the package to get HRRR 1km with the 3km - or if it'll cost more money to get a HRRR 1km feed.
I don't think this is "simulated radar" - this is just higher resolution data. Correct me if I'm wrong.
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@Wheats First off I did not notice that that was a 1km layer. Thanks for pointing that out.
Second, Isn't reflectivity pretty exactly what radar shows? Therefore AGL reflectivity is effectively a Simulated Radar view. In my defense, also, TT lists it as a "Radar (Rain / Frozen)" product:
As I mentioned, I am not a meteorologist, nor even really a true weather geek, my interest extends as far as knowing as much as I need to (and as much as I can) in order to plan my day, week, etc. Therefore, though I'm trying to learn, my knowledge of the exact terminology is limited.
Besides, the main difference I am getting at is not the difference in spatial resolution (1km vs 3km), but time resolution. Windy's "Rain, Thunder" layer shows the integral of rainfall over the 3 hour period leading up to the forecast time (eg, the rain that fell between 9am-12pm); simulated reflectivity is an instantaneous view (eg, what would radar-indicated reflectivity look like at 12:00:00pm).
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@Wheats To explain further what I mean... the NAM has a similar product, which, at 3km, still has enough spatial resolution to resolve the individual cell-like storm pattern. So again, it's not about 1km vs 3km, but about the instantaneous views provided by the weather models, as compared with the rolling 3-hour totals shown by Windy.
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@opevans your terminology and weather geekiness is top notch friend.
If these data are available then I'm all for Windy including it - that's for the devs to decide.... and I'm just a dude who has thoughts about weather haha.In my brain, the term radar is synonymous with real-time/near real-time data - not forecasted. Maybe I'm just stuck on the term "simulated radar"....I feel attaching the word radar to something that isn't actually "Radar" can be a dangerous game. I trust radar because it's the actual organized data from beams of energy bouncing off stuff. I think they need to up their radar game and give us some more of the available data.
Bottom line: They could enhance their existing Rain, thunder layer with these data. This is a great thing you've brought up and I hope someone more important than me reads it.
