Editor's Review
Radar Alive! 📱 is a robust weather app meticulously crafted for serious meteorological enthusiasts and professionals alike. Developed by a veteran storm chaser, this app brings live, detailed weather radar data right to your fingertips. Whether you're tracking tornadoes 🌪️, monitoring hurricanes 🌀, or simply keeping an eye on local weather conditions 🌦️, Radar Alive! provides the tools you need to stay informed and prepared.
With coverage extending to all US states and Puerto Rico 🇵🇷, Radar Alive! offers Level III detail, allowing you to watch weather events unfold in real-time. The app makes it easy to monitor your local weather radar and displays warnings directly on the map, accompanied by detailed warning text. A simple long press on the map allows you to switch to the nearest doppler radar, providing comprehensive coverage and insight. The METAR layer displays current weather conditions and observations, ensuring you have the latest information at your disposal.
Radar Alive! goes beyond just displaying weather data. It allows you to track selected storm chasers and automatically report your own position through Spotter Network, even when the app is running in the background. This feature makes it an invaluable tool for storm chasers, emergency personnel, and SKYWARN spotters. The app is designed to be low-clutter, with carefully simplified maps that display cities, roads, counties, and states, making it easy to interpret the radar information at a glance. Optimized for both phones and tablets, Radar Alive! ensures a seamless experience regardless of your device.
The app offers a wide selection of radar products at multiple tilt angles, including composite and base reflectivity, base and storm relative velocity, VIL, and hydrometeor classification, which identifies the type of precipitation. These features enable you to spot tornadoes using velocity and base reflectivity plots and to view warning boxes and text. The hydrometeor classification display is particularly useful for watching hail. Radar Alive! generates its images from NOAA's NEXRAD Level III binary data, ensuring accuracy and reliability. For those seeking even more advanced capabilities, an AllisonHouse subscription unlocks super-resolution radar data, an alternate data source, and additional products like lightning ⚡, watches, local storm reports, and SPC Day 1 convective outlook.
The app also includes advanced features such as smart GPS usage to conserve battery power 🔋, network bandwidth conservation, and maps optimized for weather radars. A full Spotter Network client is integrated, allowing you to display the positions of all or selected active Spotter Network users and to automatically report your position and weather event reports. Radar Alive! is a comprehensive weather tool designed to meet the needs of serious users, providing detailed information and advanced features in an accessible and user-friendly interface.
Features
Displays weather radar from all US states
Shows tornadoes, hurricanes in Level III detail
Monitors local weather radar effectively
Displays warnings on the map with text
Tracks storm chasers via Spotter Network
Offers multiple tilt angles for radar products
Shows composite and base reflectivity
Features hydrometeor classification display
Pros
Suitable for professionals and enthusiasts alike
Offers a wide selection of US radar products
Customizable map with cities, roads, and states
Optimized for both phones and tablets
Conserves battery power with smart GPS usage
Includes a full Spotter Network client
Provides access to super-resolution radar data with AllisonHouse
Cons
Built-in support form is currently not functional
Requires a subscription for advanced features