Falling now
Rain rate
Latest
How hard rain and snow are falling at this moment, in inches of water an hour, a new picture every two minutes.
.014 in an hour
Live radar / Rain total, 1 hour
Rain in the last hour, radar total
Over Sheridan, Illinois, where the map opens. The whole country
All the rain of the last hour, in inches: the quickest way to see where the downpours are falling now. How to read it.
The rings are the storms the radars detect, the larger ring a severe one; each line runs to where its storm will be in an hour if it keeps its present speed and heading. Rotation and hail are what the radars detect and the analysis measures, not warnings: the official watches and warnings in force are drawn on the map in their own colours and set out in full under Alerts.
What the last hour map shows
All the rain that fell in the last hour, in inches, totalled by the radar network. Snow counts as the water it melts to. The quickest way to see where a downpour is falling.
How to read it
- Under 0.1 in
- A passing shower.
- 0.1 to 0.5 in
- Steady rain.
- 0.5 to 1 in
- Heavy rain; water ponds on roads.
- Over 1 in
- Flash flooding possible, above all in cities and steep ground.
What it is for
- Find the downpours that may flood streets in the next hour.
- Follow a slow storm that keeps raining on the same place.
- Compare with the rain rate: a total that keeps climbing means the rain is not moving on.
How it is made
The totals are added up from the radar’s own estimate of how hard it is raining, a new one every two minutes, corrected against the rain gauges that report through the hour. Snow counts as the water it melts to. Each frame of a loop is the total to its own hour, so the swaths of rain move as it plays.
A frame each hour, played as a loop of 6 hours to 3 days. As data: /radar/now.json?show=p1h, the times of its frames.
In the Field Book
- Flash floodFB-EVT-100
- WSR-88D radarFB-INS-005
Over a state
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With it
Severe AlertsWeather by stateForecast accuracyInstrument atlas
Beside it
Rain total, 24 hours
Last day
Latest
The rain of the last 24 hours, in inches: where the heaviest totals of the day fell, and which ground is soaked.
.0112 in
Reflectivity
Radar
Latest
Rain, snow and hail across the country now, from every radar in the national network, a new picture every five minutes.
1070 dBZ