Feedback Wanted on Proposed Replacement of Radar Displays

The National Weather Service is looking for feedback on a proposed new web page for radar displays. This page is available at:

https://preview-radar.weather.gov

NOTE: The existing radar pages (https://radar.weather.gov) remain operational; the preview page should not be used for operational feeds at this time.

The original version of our radar pages is many years old, and utilizes the Adobe Flash software. Adobe has announced the discontinuance of Flash at the end of the year, and most web browsers have been displaying periodic reminders that they will no support Flash. The new radar displays are built using HTML 5 and JavaScript, which are used by current browsers.

Highlights of the new display:

Web-based and mobile-friendly displays
Uses Multi-Radar, Multi-Sensor (MRMS) datasets on an interactive map
Ability to download data in KML format
Contains several map layers that are Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant
Ability to overlay long-fused (e.g. winter weather) and short-fused (e.g. severe weather) watches, warnings and advisories
Inclusion of several high-resolution radar product types

The customized display can be bookmarked for use. As such, there would be no specific web pages for each individual radar.

We have created a shortcut centered on northern Illinois and northwest Indiana. It is available here. The different radar products can be selected by clicking on the "BREF.RAW" menu at the top left.

If approved for replacement, the NWS will issue a Service Change Notice with information on when the replacement pages are made operational. There would also be a 75 day transition period where both systems run in parallel, while users transition to the new displays.

The NWS will evaluate all comments during this period and will determine any additional and immediate need for changes, based on public feedback. Please provide feedback through the NWS survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ProposedRidge2