Inappropriate Use of Composite Radar Images
Radar data from every radar site in the country can be combined to create a simultaneous display of precipitation patterns across the country. When combined with our Winter Storm Analzyer, MyOwnRadar can differentiate between the different precipitation types and display all rain, sleet, freezing rain, and snow areas on National, Regional, and Statewide topographic or single-color background maps.

The data set used in creating such imagery on a large scale is called National Composite Radar Data (NCRD).

But MyOwnRadar will not allow you to start with this national view and then instantly zoom to any specific location using NCRD.

WHY NOT ?

National Composite Radar Data were never intended to be used in such manner. In many cases the data do not contain enough resolution to preserve the true shape, intensity, the actual number, and even the correct location of storms at close-in ranges.

For example, if a single thunderstorm is being viewed by several different radar sites, each site will be looking at the storm at different times and at different elevations. The resulting "composite image" will be some "average" depiction of the actual storm with many of the real characteristics either overly exaggerated or completely smeared out!

In fact, it becomes necessary to artificially tamper with the images (beyond legitimate smoothing techniques) in order to make them "look" right when zoomed in. This is something MyOwnRadar will not do. In our opinion this unnecessarily compromises the scientific integrity of the original radar data.

THE APPEAL OF USING NATIONAL COMPOSITE RADAR IMAGERY

Using National Composite Radar Imagery allows for a one-package-fits-all type radar display. The same background maps, the same images, the same data can be deployed across hundreds of different websites at the same time with very little effort and no need for client customization.

MyOwnRadar, however, customizes every display for each client using only scientifically accurate data. Radar viewing software that exclusively uses national composite imagery at the local level will suffer the consequences of using data that can be misleading when interpreted at close-in ranges.

For example, isolated t-storms separated by several miles are often combined into one big storm in some NCRD sets since there is not enough resolution to distinguish one thunderstorm cell from the other.

Also, since NCRD is created using data generated by different radars operating under different scanning strategies and at different time intervals, it is possible that the final composite image is made up of pictures separated from one another by as much as 20 minutes in time!

WHY IS THAT BAD?

Radar images separated by 10 to 20 minutes in time will not be able to accurately depict the current location of storms. Zooming in to a local area with 15-minute-old data may show the ALL CLEAR in a city that is, in reality, getting hit with a severe thunderstorm!

Web visitors zooming down to their city on a map that is displaying composite radar imagery will be disappointed - to say the least - in the lack of timeliness and the accuracy of the data.

SO WHY USE COMPOSITE IMAGERY AT ALL?

The old adage is true: "Use the right tool for the right job." National Composite Radar Imagery is a great tool, and it is the only way to get a current snapshot of what is going on across vast areas. And even if storms are displaced by 10 to 15 miles because of "not-so-recent" data in the composite image, the discrepancy is virtually undetectable to the human eye at the national, regional, or even statewide level.

But the moment you zoom in to take a closer look, the limitations of using national composite radar images at a local level - not to mention the level of city streets - become painfully apparent.

Click on the two graphics immediately to the left and see what real, high resolution data processing by MyOwnRadar can reveal. If composite radar data were being used to create these images, the hail cores (with 3.5" - 4.0" diameter stones!) may have been displaced several miles from their true position. More importantly, the real-time location of the tornado approaching the DFW airport - clearly revealed by MyOwnRadar in the lower left image - would have been virtually undetectable using NCRD.

SO WHAT IS THE SOLUTION ?

MyOwnRadar can create dramatic customized displays of National, Regional, and Statewide Radar Composite Images and Animation Sequences for a quick overview of current weather patterns. But for serious storm tracking at the local level, it is necessary to switch to one of MyOwnRadar's Interactive Radar displays using only the highest resolution data - both in space and time - for the most professional, user-friendly, and scientifically valid online storm tracking displays available anywhere!