4 ms·

Glad to see that they don't want to mandate it. The big radar update they did a few years ago was a disaster (slow, no easy deep links) that they have backed aw

Glad to see that they don't want to mandate it. The big radar update they did a few years ago was a disaster (slow, no easy deep links) that they have backed away from.

destitude 3y ago
Yes, the new radar ux was a disaster. Forced me to find another source.
superkuh 3y ago
Backed away from? They never even fixed the 'lite' version so that you could actually use the radar images to predict when it will rain (the image is so tiny it's useless: https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/CONUS_loop.gif https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/CONUS_loop.gif). During the transition period years I must have sent a dozen emails to the noaa people asking them to please keep a simple animated radar image of CONUS available. It would be an easy thing. But they're absolutely dedicated to web application only access to weather data. And the most frustrating thing is that the links to the https://radar.weather.gov/ https://radar.weather.gov/ 'lite' version are only visible if you sucessfully execute JS. So the no-JS version is invisible to no-JS browsers. Whoever they had designing this front end had never heard of graceful degredation, let alone progressive enhancement. It remains an accessibility nightmare. Weather.gov 2.0 will be more of the same.
- maxerickson 3y ago
  https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/CONUS-LARGE_loop.gif https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/CONUS-LARGE_loop.gi... is quite a bit bigger. I usually use the local radar gif though. My local office forecast pages link to the lite radars. It's straightforward to take a peak at the available gifs: https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/ https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/
  - superkuh 3y ago
    I'll be... the finally did it. Thanks for the update!
    - ericjmorey 3y ago
      Thank you for starting the thread that eventually produced the answer I've been looking for this whole time. And thank you for being persistent about raising awareness about how useful that national loop is.
  - ericjmorey 3y ago
    Thank you!
- circusfly 3y ago
  I don't get these criticisms, radar.weather.gov is phenomenally great! It works on all devices and doesn't show Ads. Maybe all these negative comments are people who work at accuweather or other for money weather sites trying to disparage radar.weather.gov with fabricated nonsensical garbage.
  - mistrial9 3y ago
    pre-Trump, knowledgeable netizens could access data directly, in large quantities since Federal data is already paid for by taxpayers. Things seem to have changed now that $MONEY is to be made in intermediating weather data feeds?
  - ericjmorey 3y ago
    It's a degradation from what previously existed. We want the better thing that already existed, not this worse thing.
- everybodyknows 3y ago
  > fixed the 'lite' version so that you could actually use the radar images to predict when it will rain ... Those are the wrong links for that purpose. What you want is e.g. https://radar.weather.gov/station/knkx/standard https://radar.weather.gov/station/knkx/standard Reach these by scrolling down your local forecast.weather.gov e.g. https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=32.95528450000006&lon=-117.26035839999997 https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=32.95528450000...
  - ericjmorey 3y ago
    This is not what is wanted. What's wanted is the better options that previously existed. You've pointed to an often useless but in the best case substantially worse option. This isn't difficult. Keep the better thing running and run the new showy thing in parallel for whomever wants that.
hnburnsy 3y ago
Try Nowcoast, radar with multiple layers of data... https://nowcoast.noaa.gov/ https://nowcoast.noaa.gov/
- maxerickson 3y ago
  That has all the things I don't like about https://radar.weather.gov/ https://radar.weather.gov/ The ridge gif loops load faster than the more complicated map starts to fill in...
  - circusfly 3y ago
    I don't understand, I love radar.weather.gov. It's fast, works extremely well, lets me zoom in on an area even as it's animating, works great on Windows, Linux, Chrome on Android, what's not to like?
    - maxerickson 3y ago
      Even as it is animating? The gif for an area covering a 2 hour drive in any direction loads in about a quarter second. I probably got a little soured on it when they made it the primary path from forecast pages at a time when it was still quite slow.
kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
It was a disaster because the incumbent administration was doing AccuWeather's bidding to starve it. The radar map dramatically improved after the transition to Biden.

Glad to see that they don't want to mandate it. The big radar update they did a few years ago was a disaster (slow, no easy deep links) that they have backed away from.

destitude 3y ago

Yes, the new radar ux was a disaster. Forced me to find another source.

superkuh 3y ago

Backed away from? They never even fixed the 'lite' version so that you could actually use the radar images to predict when it will rain (the image is so tiny it's useless: https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/CONUS_loop.gif https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/CONUS_loop.gif). During the transition period years I must have sent a dozen emails to the noaa people asking them to please keep a simple animated radar image of CONUS available. It would be an easy thing. But they're absolutely dedicated to web application only access to weather data. And the most frustrating thing is that the links to the https://radar.weather.gov/ https://radar.weather.gov/ 'lite' version are only visible if you sucessfully execute JS. So the no-JS version is invisible to no-JS browsers. Whoever they had designing this front end had never heard of graceful degredation, let alone progressive enhancement. It remains an accessibility nightmare. Weather.gov 2.0 will be more of the same.

maxerickson 3y ago
https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/CONUS-LARGE_loop.gif https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/CONUS-LARGE_loop.gi... is quite a bit bigger. I usually use the local radar gif though. My local office forecast pages link to the lite radars. It's straightforward to take a peak at the available gifs: https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/ https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/
- superkuh 3y ago
  I'll be... the finally did it. Thanks for the update!
  - ericjmorey 3y ago
    Thank you for starting the thread that eventually produced the answer I've been looking for this whole time. And thank you for being persistent about raising awareness about how useful that national loop is.
- ericjmorey 3y ago
  Thank you!
circusfly 3y ago
I don't get these criticisms, radar.weather.gov is phenomenally great! It works on all devices and doesn't show Ads. Maybe all these negative comments are people who work at accuweather or other for money weather sites trying to disparage radar.weather.gov with fabricated nonsensical garbage.
- mistrial9 3y ago
  pre-Trump, knowledgeable netizens could access data directly, in large quantities since Federal data is already paid for by taxpayers. Things seem to have changed now that $MONEY is to be made in intermediating weather data feeds?
- ericjmorey 3y ago
  It's a degradation from what previously existed. We want the better thing that already existed, not this worse thing.
everybodyknows 3y ago
> fixed the 'lite' version so that you could actually use the radar images to predict when it will rain ... Those are the wrong links for that purpose. What you want is e.g. https://radar.weather.gov/station/knkx/standard https://radar.weather.gov/station/knkx/standard Reach these by scrolling down your local forecast.weather.gov e.g. https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=32.95528450000006&lon=-117.26035839999997 https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=32.95528450000...
- ericjmorey 3y ago
  This is not what is wanted. What's wanted is the better options that previously existed. You've pointed to an often useless but in the best case substantially worse option. This isn't difficult. Keep the better thing running and run the new showy thing in parallel for whomever wants that.

hnburnsy 3y ago

Try Nowcoast, radar with multiple layers of data... https://nowcoast.noaa.gov/ https://nowcoast.noaa.gov/

maxerickson 3y ago
That has all the things I don't like about https://radar.weather.gov/ https://radar.weather.gov/ The ridge gif loops load faster than the more complicated map starts to fill in...
- circusfly 3y ago
  I don't understand, I love radar.weather.gov. It's fast, works extremely well, lets me zoom in on an area even as it's animating, works great on Windows, Linux, Chrome on Android, what's not to like?
  - maxerickson 3y ago
    Even as it is animating? The gif for an area covering a 2 hour drive in any direction loads in about a quarter second. I probably got a little soured on it when they made it the primary path from forecast pages at a time when it was still quite slow.

kevin_thibedeau 3y ago

It was a disaster because the incumbent administration was doing AccuWeather's bidding to starve it. The radar map dramatically improved after the transition to Biden.