Middle East Weather Radar

Filip_K

Hi @vvc. We are trying to get better radar data/coverage for whole world, including Middle East. Unfortunately, radar data from Middle East are rarely easy to get.

For Saudi Arabia, currently our only provider is RainViewer. yanbuweather.com you mention in your previous post looks like it could be used as well, I'll look into it, thank you.

For UAE, the situation is most complicated. I was in contact with them a while ago and they are very unwilling to provide the data in any form. If you know if any way we could be provided with the data, we'll gladly incorporate it.

Shahab Joukar 2

@Filip_K hi, I know it’s been a while since this was posted but u think there’s any chance u could ask again? I’m in the UAE and I’m desperate for windy support and I think a load of other people here are too.

Filip_K

Hi @Shahab-Joukar-2, looks like radars from yanbuweather.com are working again. I'll look into it again.

YacineBoussoufa

@Filip_K Hi, I know this topic is kinda old, I figured I'd comment here instead of creating a new topic xD

Can't you use https://www.radar-flask.xyz/ for Saudi Arabia?

Filip_K

Hi @YacineBoussoufa, thanks for sharing the URL. It looks promising, I'll look into it.

YacineBoussoufa

@Filip_K Today there's some rain in Saudi, and seems like radar-flask.xyz is a valid source for such radar data.

Here's a comparison between radar-flask.xyz and yanbuweather.com, the only difference yanbu provides the data for the whole middle east (including Oman, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait) while radar-flask only provides data for Saudi Arabia...

It seems like radar-flask data shows a delay by 10 minutes, tho it seems to be real time instead... You can see radar-flask showing the time as 13:25 but it shows the exact same data of yanbu shown at 13:35 (showing localtime). So maybe it's just a printing timing error?

Also unlike yanbu the data is provided as an image overlay in the format "https://www.radar-flask.xyz/radar_image/titan/yyyy-MM-ddTHH-mm-ss" where mm is always a multiple of 5 and ss always 00.

Also unlike other countries sources, there is no location of the radars nor a coverage range, so if a radar goes offline it might be hard to determinate that and show "No Data"...
According to https://tropicalglobe.com/radar_database/?lat=23.832&lon=46.548&zoom=5 all Saudi Radars have a range of 250km and are located in several airports troughout the country, so for coverage it might easy to determine that, but still you might be unable to know when a radar goes offline...

YacineBoussoufa

Hi @Filip_K any update on this?

Moha Meme7

@YacineBoussoufa @filip_k Hi, I am the owner of the website.
The coverage is for almost all of saudi arabia except the eastern part of it and there are some blind spots there and there. and the north eastern part should be covered by Kuwait radar but the radar is currently closed to do conflicts (which sounds weird but well yeah)
Also the radar timing system works different I think
so the radar starts capturing lets say 4:15 until 4:20 and releases an update. you could say 4:15 is actually 4:20 update. although sometimes there are some delays and corrupt images due to problems that happen from the national center there and it really sucks but yeah.

Also for UAE/Sultanate of Oman/Bahrain/Qatar theres radar and I can give the API for free on my email if you want with a key so it doesn't get releases/abused and I might consider mixing my radar with all of them later.

Suty

@Moha-Meme7 @yacineboussoufa We are planning to add this coverage to Windy, but I can't specify the time period right now, probably the second half of this year.

aziz1393

@Suty
Thank you for the update, I appreciate it.

The planned inclusion of Middle East radar coverage is a highly important development for operational and safety-critical use cases in the region. High-resolution, real-time radar data is essential for aviation situational awareness, convective weather monitoring, flash-flood risk assessment, and general operational planning in rapidly changing weather conditions.

We look forward to this enhancement being implemented, as it will significantly improve the reliability and value of Windy for professional and safety-sensitive applications across the region.

Thank you again for the continued development of the platform.