Recent addition of HRRR model to Windy has been a life saver. Thanks!

I would appreciate inclusion of HRRR-smoke as a finer-grained,short term air quality model as well.

Hi,

I would love for Windy to have a 'Simulated Radar' option alongside the "Rain, thunder", "Rain accumulation", "new snow", "thunderstorms"

The "Rain, Thunder" option comes close, but it appears to show something like cumulative rainfall over 60 or perhaps 120 minutes, rather than the instantaneous precipitation rate at a point in time.

@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).

@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.

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.

Hi, love the app, I have been a subscriber for several years.

The one thing that I ever have to switch away from Windy for, is a forecast for instantaneous precipitation rate.

The "rainfall/thunder" layer appears to show the total rainfall expected over a period. I think it might be 1 or 2 hours. First of all, it's not very clear - so I'd like an explanation or visualization somewhere of what that range is. For example, if I choose 10:00 AM, I believe it will show me how much rain is forecast to fall between the two hour window from 9:00AM to 11:00AM.

This is a very useful layer, but it doesn't give me the most useful piece of information I would like to have, which is the specific predicted rainfall rate. On Windy, If a model tells me to expect 0.6 inches of rain at 10AM, (assuming it's a 2 hour window like I mentioned above) it doesn't differentiate between whether it's steady rain of 0.3 inches per hour from 9-11am, or it's a downpour of 6 inches per hour for 5 minutes and then dry otherwise.

This can be useful for predicting the precise time that a front will pass through, in order to schedule timing for outdoor activities. It can also be useful for preparing what gear to bring, as planning for a short burst of 6 inches of rain per hour is quite different than planning for a two hour long steady rain of 0.3 inches per hour.

Most/all major models publish instantaneous precipitation rate products. I would like to see these products included in Windy for the models where they are available. Most weather apps don't do this, so I always have to go to a website like tropical tidbits. If Windy had this, it would be yet another differentiator, and I'd never need to look elsewhere.

Thanks
Owen

@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.

@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).

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.

Recent addition of HRRR model to Windy has been a life saver. Thanks!

I would appreciate inclusion of HRRR-smoke as a finer-grained,short term air quality model as well.

Hi,

I would love for Windy to have a 'Simulated Radar' option alongside the "Rain, thunder", "Rain accumulation", "new snow", "thunderstorms"

The "Rain, Thunder" option comes close, but it appears to show something like cumulative rainfall over 60 or perhaps 120 minutes, rather than the instantaneous precipitation rate at a point in time.