Weather radar measures reflectivity — how much of the radar beam bounces back off rain, hail or snow, measured in dBZ. Greens are light rain, yellows are moderate, and when you see red or purple cores above 55 dBZ, that storm is dropping torrential rain and very possibly hail. A bright, tight core that persists loop after loop is a storm worth respecting.
The loop matters more than the still. A single radar frame tells you where rain is; the animation tells you where it is going, whether cells are growing or collapsing, and whether new storms keep firing over the same spot — the classic “training” signature behind flash floods. That is why every radar on this page animates.
National composites stitch together 160+ NEXRAD sites, which is perfect for the big picture but smooths out detail. When a storm is bearing down on you, a single-site view updates faster and resolves the storm’s actual structure — pick any site on Station Views, or let My Weather find your nearest radar automatically. And when storms turn electric, watch them light up on the lightning page.
Satellite bands, lightning and cloud layers, side by side.
Eight major NEXRAD sites, coast to coast.
Playback of recent hours and paths to the deep archives.
