Rain radar
The radar shows what is falling right now — not what a model expects. The last hour comes from the network of European weather radars; for Austria and its immediate surroundings a short-term forecast is added.
Composite measurement from European weather radars. Drag to move, scroll or use ± to zoom.
How to read it
The colour is the rain rate in millimetres per hour. A radar measures precipitation in the air, not on the ground: in the mountains rain can evaporate before it arrives, and wet snow looks heavier than it is.
What the radar cannot do
A radar image is not a forecast. The frames after the last measurement extrapolate a few hours ahead and only cover Austria and its immediate surroundings. Beyond that, the forecast for a place carries its band of uncertainty.
Rain at one particular place
The radar shows the wider situation. What happens at one place — hour by hour, ten days, with warnings — is on that place’s own page.
All placesCommon questions
- How current is the rain radar?
- The image covers the last hour in five-minute steps and reloads continuously. How old the most recent measurement is stands under the map — a delayed delivery is marked as delayed and never passed off as current.
- Which area does the radar cover?
- The measurement is a composite of European weather radars and covers Austria, Germany and the Alps. The short-term forecast beyond the last measurement exists only for Austria and its immediate surroundings.
- Is a rain radar the same as a rain forecast?
- No. The radar measures what is falling now. A forecast computes what will fall, and stays uncertain — Mostly shows that uncertainty as a band around every hour instead of claiming a single number.
Sources
- RainViewer · European weather radars
- Measurement: composite radar image from European weather services. Forecast: INCA nowcast by GeoSphere Austria, around three hours ahead, for Austria and its immediate surroundings only.
- Map: Google or Esri · presentation by Mostly