June 13, 2005
The state-level radar mosaics have been restored to summer operation. The winter color scales are no longer implemented.June 10, 2005
A number of exciting new enhancements has been added to RadarLab. It is now possible to overlay current lightning strikes over radar, satellite, or both! In addition six new radar data types are now available, including 4 tilts of storm relative motion, 1 additional tilt of base reflectivity, and a new composite reflectivity image.April 13, 2005
As you have probably noticed, the site looks a bit different than it has in the past. After enduring several months of beta testing on the Lightning and new Satellite pages, the new look along with its updated menu system is finally making its official debut. The system received excellent feedback during its stint in beta and we hope that users will find it superior to the old static buttons.
For a number of years people have asked us for a way to get to the data more quickly. In response we considered a number of alternative interface methods, however, the simple and easy-to-use interface that we offered was a popular feature that we did not want to compromise. Finally, in an effort to provide the best of both worlds, we designed a new menuing system that offered the flexibility to satisfy both demands.
Although the menu may look radically different, the actual navigation isn't. All of the top level menu items: Radar, Satellite, Lighting, etc. are still present on the home page (and every page for that matter) and can be accessed by simply clicking on them. On the old system, one could click the Radar button and go to a main radar page. Similiarly, on the new system, one can click the Radar menu item and go to the same main radar page. This works exactly as before with no need to re-learn anything.
The new system offers an added advantage however in the form of an optional fly-out menu that is associated with each menu item. Note that I said "optional". One can navigate the site just as before without ever using the fly-outs. If, however, you choose to take advantage of the fly-outs, then you can jump from virtually any page, to virtually any page. This system offers the ultimate in quick and easy access.
The new menu system has the potential of greatly speeding access to images while still preserving the classic interface elements for those who choose to use them. You can opt to use the old approach by simply clicking on the menu title, or, you can use the new approach by utilizing the fly-out menus. The best part is, the choice is yours.
That being said, the new menu system is definitely and unequivocally a work-in-progress. We have additional work to do. Some of the additional static links which formerly appeared in the upper-left hand section of several pages have been removed. Although one may use the fly-outs to get to any of the images pointed to by those links, in keeping with our goal to maintain backwards compatibility with the old navigation we will likely be adding some of them back.
We hope that you will find the new menu system both useful and enjoyable. Although it may take some initial getting used to, we feel that it is a positive change. We encourage you try the new system, explore, and learn what advantages it offers. We also ask that you help us continue to evolve and improve the system by offering your feedback.
Thank you very much for your support.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Parsons
Program Manager
January 4, 2005
We are pleased to announce the addition of a new
suite of lightning products. The national image is retained, but with
greater resolution and more timely updates. In addition to the enhanced national
image, we have also added 14 high-resolution regional images.
This exciting addition marks the long-awaited return of regional lightning data to WeatherTAP. The regional lightning maps are available simply by clicking on the appropriate region of the national map. Update time has been improved by 300%, with all lightning images now updated at 10 minute intervals, versus 30 minutes previously. Latency has also been greatly improved, up 250% compared to the previous imagery (now at 12 minutes versus 30 minutes previously).
The new lightning pages sport the enhanced WeatherTAP user interface, currently being considered for deployment across the entire site (See previous What's New post for more information). The new interface provides easy access to all virtually products via drop-down menus. We feel that this will be a great enhancement to WeatherTAP, but we seek your feedback to let us know what you think about this proposed enhancement to the site.
Visit
the new Lightning page here. RadarLab GIS users have even more timely
data, with five-minute updates and ten minute latency. Existing WeatherTAP.com
users may try
RadarLab GIS free.
January 4, 2005
The new
suite of satellite imagery is now in beta, introducing more than 136 new
images. Included among the new items are a Goes East/West composite (with
Vis, IR, and WV bands), much improved regional off-shore coverage (including
the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico), ultra-high resolution regional images covering
even more area than the old (and in greater detail), animated state sat images
(an often requested feature), and, for the first time, a world-wide composite
utilizing multiple satellites deployed in orbit around the globe. Check
out the new imagery here.
On the beta satellite page and the Lightning page, we are using a new menu system that we hope will improve the navigation of WeatherTAP.
The goals with new menu include: (1) making the navigation consistent and easier to use across the site. The same menu will appear in the same place on each page, with convenient links to all products, forums and tutorials from each page; (2) being all text, the menu should load faster and is scalable for those who prefer to size the type either larger or smaller.
If you prefer not to use the second- and third-level of dropdowns, you can simply click the top menu item to go a page with navigation options similar to the current WeatherTAP Satellite page. Likewise, you can click the items in the first dropdown (National, Regional, State, and Global) for subsequent pages.
Known issues: The menu drop downs do not work in the Mac/Internet Explorer environment. Mac users are encouraged to use Apple's Safari browser, or Firefox. Firefox is available for free here.
Please send your feedback to webmaster@weathertap.com
Be sure and say hello to our staff if you happen to be attending any of these trade shows. We would love to meet you, answer any questions you have about WeatherTAP or RadarLab GIS, and to show you the latest product developments.
American Meteorological
Society
January 9–13, 2005
San Diego, CA
WeatherTAP will be demonstrated from the Harris booth, # 101. WeatherTAP staff
meteorologist Mike Chase will be in attendance.
NBAA Schedulers &
Dispatchers Conference
February 13–16, 2005
Reno, NV
The Area Forecast Discussion (AFD) product is now available on the Severe Weather page.
Now you can define your own color scales for RadarLab images. Create two custom scales and use any image type with any of the two scales or keep the weatherTAP default. This new feature is available through MyRadarLab link any RadarLab image.
Before anyone panics, it should be noted that 99.9% of weatherTAP users never approach the 600MB ceiling. Indeed the average user downloads only 22MB per month. These users will be completely unaffected. It is only the users consuming enormous amounts of bandwidth with single user licenses that may be affected.
The amended usage agreement is available here:
http://www.weathertap.com/unprotected/static/subscribe_usage_agreement.html
Any user subject to the overage charge will be contacted prior to billing. If any user does not wish to continue their account under the new license, then they may contact webmaster@weathertap.com to arrange to cancel their subscription. If you think there is a possibility that others may be using your account, you should immediately change your password to ensure that you are not inadvertenly subject to the overage charge.
Thank you for your understanding.
New overlays: Airports and Navaids are now available as an overlay
New Radar types: 1 hour and 3 hour precip totals are now available
User customization: Users may now create their own custom overlays using the MyRadarLab feature.
See the RadarLab Usage guide for more information, or go to the RadarLab home page to see the new features in action.
The local weather page now has an option to find
observations and forecasts by entering the city and state. Before, you could
only access local weather either by drill-down into the state map and selecting
a station, or by entering the zipcode.
The station observation time is now reported in the local time zone rather
than Eastern time. The GMT time of the observation is still reported in parenthesis
to the right of the local time.
Sunrise and sunset are now calculated and available
on the observation pages.
A "quick forecast" feature is now printed on the local results page.
This feature shows the next 5 forecasts periods along with highs, lows, and
probability of precipitation where appropriate. Each forecast period is summarized
by a graphical icon.
The parsing of zone forecasts has been improved.
A storm tracks overlay as well as the full storm
attributes table are now available on RadarLab.
Storm tracks indicate current position of storm cells. A tail drawn from the
center of the storm indicates forcasted position of the cells at 15,30,45,
and 60 minutes. The storm attributes table gives detailed information about
the cell, such as intensity information and whether or not tornado-like twisting
has been observed. See the RadarLab
usage guide for more information.
There are now 25 images available on the local radar pages.
Go to the NEXRAD station of choice, then scroll down for the additional image
options. A few of the new products include Extended Range Base Reflectivity,
One-Hour Precip Totals, plus SRV Tilts 2, 3 and 4.
We are pleased to announce the availability of two new images on the Aviation Weather page. The Jetstream Analysis map provides upper-air analysis at 300mb. Streamlines show wind flow while color contours indicate speed. We are also pleased to announce the additional of an Icing Potential image. This image uses an experimental algorithm which combines data from Satellite, Radar, and Model output to produce a prediction of airframe icing potential.
Two new radar mosaics have been added to the weatherTAP suite of products. The 4km Winter Mosaic and the 2km Winter Mega-Mosaic are now available in the Radar section. The images combine model data, surface obs, and radar reflectivity data to determine the type of precipitation within an area.
We welcome your feedback
If you have any questions or comments about weatherTAP, please do not hesitate
to contact us. Call us at 800-337-5263 (U.S. & Canada) or 931-484-5137
(International). Or, E-mail webmaster@weathertap.com
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