By: Hannah Judge
The new Storm Radar app from The Weather Channel is a full-screen interactive map that puts detailed weather and storm tracking data directly in the hands of users. The app pulls storm data from a network of over 250,000 global personal weather stations, providing eight hours of high-resolution radar data, over 20 data layers, and hyperlocal current conditions and forecasts. Instead of looking at all of this information on the map at once — or viewing it on 20 separate maps — you can pick and choose real-time weather layers and customize the data they show.
Users select a basemap style and can then add layers like Radar, Wind, Temperature, Tropical Storms, and even a Custom layer, which combines data from the latter options.
An interactive slider shows current and predictive weather for each layer. You can also select any area on the map to see a pop-up display with current conditions.
Weather data by nature is constantly changing, meaning the look of this map needs to change with it. Runtime styling, a feature that allows developers to programmatically change any layer of their map in real time, is dynamically changing the color of layers like storm radar. In the video below, the app is projecting the hurricane’s path and runtime styling is changing the colors to represent the data as it changes.
With hues shifting from light green to red, it’s showing an increase in rainfall for that area. There is a ton of data powering this visualization yet it renders smoothly; you can see exactly how hurricane Katia’s energy dissipates as it hits the coast of Mexico.
The Weather Channel’s Storm Radar app is built with our mobile SDKs for iOS and Android. Download the app, and stay safe during the summer storm season. If you’re interested in building with us, reach out to sales.
Tracking storms with The Weather Channel’s newest app was originally published in Points of interest on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.