@idefix37 The radar forecast is basically a model. What's in the past is real radar data. You only get 1 hour free nowadays. That's why you will not get 12 hours free because you can't get 12 hours in the past for free anymore. Now, 12 hours would be more reliable than say 72 hours. In summer, such short-range models even for one hour cannot handle thunderstorms very well. Especially the HRRR, which Windy already has. So, you might be disappointed even if there WAS a 12-hour free forecast of radar. You might just be better off with the 1-hour outlook.

@weatherfan Update: The lightning layer is back to working normally.

@EzeStorm The way I see it, the lightning layer works in northern South America and the Americas, Western Europe, a little bit of Asia, and maybe Australia. It works in the Caribbean Sea, parts of the Atlantic and East Pacific. Yes, it doesn't work in much of the Southern Hemisphere. Now tonight, I notice the lightning layer has stopped working completely at this time. Recently it wasn't working and it turned out they got rid of the old lightning service and put in the nowcast service, which WAS working fine. Why wouldn't it work NOW?

@rtindall Such an index could also be a measure of instability, which also goes hand in hand with CAPE values.

@amjadlodhi Yes, very useful information, especially solar power. Good for summer outdoor activities, like golf, swimming, and hiking.

@korina Well, radar tracking has ALWAYS been done by meteorologists, too. Sure, radar tracking has only been available on Windy for several years. That doesn't matter. If radar tracking is available on Windy NOW, and meteorologists have always done it since weather radar was invented decades ago, and if lightning strikes are available now, on Windy, certainly there's got to be a way to make hail tracking available. We certainly have the technology to do it. If it's done on TV like the Weather Channel, it could be done online. You can't just wave that "meteorologists do it" card around as an excuse NOT to do it. Like Nike says "just do it!!". I think WE should have the ability to do hail tracking; satellite, radar, lightning, and wind speed forecasts, those things have always been done by meteorologists. That includes hail tracking; and that only has been available in the last, say, 10 years or so. That became available on The Weather Channel once they had the technology to do it, and it was at an affordable cost to them, and they were able to incorporate it into their real-time 5-minute radar scans. I am sure the same could be done HERE on Windy. The techno-geeks might be able to figure that one out someday. All this is just my opinion. Thanks for getting back to me and acknowledging my suggestion!! Oh well, if hail tracking is not going to be one of whatever radar improvements down the road, I will just have to settle for the Weather Channel's hail tracking on TV. I am surprised that hail tracking is NOT available on the Weather Channel's Local On the 8's weather or even LocalNow, a Weather Channel-related "cousin" you get online. I am also surprised they don't make lightning data available on TWC or LocalNow, but that's a whole other issue and that is not up for discussion HERE. Only Windy is up for discussion, not TWC or LocalNow. Once again, Korina, thank you for your feedback!! I look forward to hearing from you again!!

@korina As for further radar improvements, I would love to see a real-time hail tracker. It seems like hail tracking is only available on TV, like the Weather Channel. Suppose you are away from your TV. Hail tracking generally is not available online. It would be nice if Windy made hail tracking available, as hail storms are a threat, especially in spring and summer.

@heinemandavid The sound DOES work for lightning hits.

Yes, the new radar does seem to look better.

@mravan200 WW3bis indeed a possibility, and we need to contain this Ukraine war and nip it in the bud before it ever spreads and turns into a world war. The commenter isn't saying there WILL be a world war; he's only suggesting it to make us aware of the possibility. Make people aware of the possibility NOW so we can PREVENT it.

@richard514 Yes, the site is still free; it's the FULL version of 3D that won't be. I found THAT disappointing, but you can still have all you want in 2D. You can still go ahead and promote the site. I myself do NOT like 3D; it has slow, bulky wind animations, the mouse feels draggy and the computer "feels" slow. If you ignore 3D, you will like the current Windy with all its' features. I am sure new free ones will get added to the site in the months, years, decades ahead. Enjoy your traditional 2D Windy!!

I do not like it. Wind animations, too slow and bulky, makes the computer look and feel slow. The "missing" elements are already available on 2D. Yet you guys want to charge for those elements to Premium paid members only. Because of these two things, I will NOT be using your return of 3D. Thanks, but no thanks!! 2D is still best!!

@Korina I think this is a really cool satellite imagery, isn't it? Seems like you get 1-minute updates now. That's a feature I have wanted to see, but didn't think they would ever do it, but they did!!

@wxr said in Windy.com brings high visibility satellite layer:

Looks great. Thank you.

I like the new details of how the cloud cover is presented. It seems that the nighttime side is brighter, too, than the older visible nighttime side.

@wxr said in Windy.com brings high visibility satellite layer:

Looks great. Thank you.

The new forecast on Snow Depth; that one is very neat!!

I also re-checked on the speed of animation; turned out it works fine on the IR as well as all the other things, visible day/night, and IR + enhanced. I had to remember the little dog, rabbit button to toggle for the animation speed.

I re-checked, and I re-read what it says about the improvements, and I saw the mention of the option for changing to Fahrenheit, and I looked at the Legend, and found the toggle for Celsius to Fahrenheit. It works fine!!

How often do the "Active Fires" update? Fires have been known to rapidly intensify, sometimes in a matter of minutes, and not only intensify but rapidly expand in size. Perhaps the satellite could measure how many acres is the current fire size; how many acres totally have burned. Updates perhaps could be provided every 10 minutes just like the clouds. Speaking of which, the standard infrared seems to animate much faster than the Enhanced Infrared, so yeah, that's an improvement; the standard one also animates faster than it itself used to. Seems like the cirrus features can be seen better now on the standard IR than it used to be. Not much has changed regarding the speed on the Enhanced IR or the colors.

I DO like the cloud temperature thing the new satellite now has; it should have an option, however, to toggle between Celsius and Fahrenheit; it does not have such an option NOW. I would also like to see the temperatures that are greater than -33 C. Also, why was -33 C picked as a temp for which it can't measure above that level? If the satellite can see fog at the surface, it would be nice if the satellite could measure fog temperature on the ground. The fog temperature would give you pretty much what the dew point is on the ground; this would be especially useful in summer. I like the global forecast for any point on Earth. I haven't found the "active fires" yet.

The satellite seems to update regularly in 10 + minute intervals. When I animate it, I do not get the continuous smooth flow you seem to have in your demonstration video. The before and after pictures look the same, so you are going to have to prove it to me that there REALLY are differences in the quality of the before improvement and after improvement photos. Otherwise, I see nothing new. The animation that I get is the same 10 + time step animation that I had before the "improvements". I see no change in the color presentation.