The full-screen radar plays an animated loop of precipitation over a map you can pan and zoom freely — with satellite, temperature, wind, and specialty layers, live warnings, and lightning strikes.
Radar requires at least a Silver subscription; the extended durations and advanced layers below need Gold. See Plans & Subscriptions.
Opening the radar
- Tap the radar button in the main screen toolbar (top right). Without a subscription this button opens the upgrade screen instead.
- On the main screen's precipitation section, select the Radar tab and tap the mini map to expand it full screen (the mini radar map itself is a Gold feature — see The Main Screen).
Close the radar with the ✕ button in the top corner.
Playback
The bar along the bottom controls the animation:
- Play / Pause — starts and stops the loop. If frames fail to load, this becomes a Retry button.
- Timeline — a scrubber with hour tick marks and a NOW marker separating past from forecast. Drag anywhere on it to jump to a moment in the loop.
- Time & speed button — shows the current frame's time plus the playback speed. Tap it to cycle the speed:
0.5×→1×→1.5×→2×.
The map itself supports pinch to zoom and drag to pan. After you pan away, a recenter button appears to snap back to your location.
Layers
Tap the layer name button in the bottom bar to open the layer picker. Locked layers show a lock icon; tapping one shows an "Upgrade to Gold to Unlock" alert.
Radar
| Layer | What it shows | Requires |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Hour Radar (default) | Recent radar plus the near-term forecast loop | Silver — included with any subscription |
| 18 Hour Radar | An extended loop reaching much further into the forecast | Gold |
| Global Radar | Satellite-derived precipitation with worldwide coverage — useful outside traditional radar networks | Silver |
| Precip Type | Colors precipitation by type — rain, snow, and mixes | Gold |
Advanced layers
All of the following require Gold. The list you see varies by region — Forecast Bar only offers the layers with data for the area you're viewing.
| Section | Layers |
|---|---|
| Specialty | Aurora Forecast, Road Weather Index |
| Satellite | U.S. Satellite, Satellite, Radar (Europe), Radar (Australia), IR Satellite (Europe), Visible Satellite (Europe) |
| Temperature | Temperature, Feels Like, Dew Point, Temperature Change |
| Precipitation | Precipitation 24 Hour, Snow 24 Hour |
| Wind | Wind Speed, UltraViolet (UV) |
Tip: Set which layer the radar opens with under Settings → Data & Layout → Radar → Default Layer.
Map controls
- Map style (bottom left) — tap to pick
Standard,Satellite, orHybridfor the base map. - Legend (bottom left) — shows the color scale for the current layer, so you can read intensity at a glance.
- Lightning (bottom right) — toggles recent lightning strikes on the map.
- Warnings (bottom right) — toggles active severe weather warning areas, drawn as colored polygons.
The warnings list
With warnings on, a counter shows how many warnings are active in view. Tap it to open the list — each warning expands into full details, including the official instructions and the affected areas.
Weather overlay
A strip of upcoming hourly temperatures floats at the top of the radar. Turn it off with Settings → Data & Layout → Radar → Show Weather Overlay.
Next-Generation Radar (Beta)
Settings → Data & Layout → Radar → Next-Generation Radar (Beta) — on by default. Uses high-resolution, smoothly interpolated radar when available: it keeps a complete colored fallback visible, shows the latest frame first, and fills in the rest of the loop in the background. Turn it off if you prefer the classic tiles.
Custom Radar
Prefer a specific radar website? Turn on Settings → Data & Layout → Radar → Use Custom Radar and enter its URL. The main screen's radar button will then open your page instead of the built-in radar. Use {lat} and {lng} in the URL as placeholders for your current location — Forecast Bar fills them in when it opens the page.
Note: Gold subscribers can also put radar on the Home Screen with the radar widget — see Home Screen Widgets.