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Sam Spade wrote (in part):

The NEXRAD radar I pull off www.nws.noaa.gov vary from 5 to 15 minutes,
depending upon the site.

I wonder why a television station would be concerned about that delay?

As others noted, sometimes a few minutes delay can make a
life-or-death difference. But I think stations want their own radar
for much the same reason they want their own meteorologists reporting
the weather. I remember when a station's weatherman was just a guy
who read the NOAA forecast, often dressed in a uniform advertising
Texaco or whatever company sponsored that segment. Then one station
hired a meteorologist (who emphasized, "MY forecast is . . .") and
suddenly they alll had to have one.

One station in my area ran ads promoting their Doppler radar showing
people carrying models of the radar tower around with them at work, on
picnics, etc. The tag line was something like, "We bought Doppler
radar so you don't have to."

Another station put a continuous feed of their radar on a digital
subchannel; local cable also carries it. But due to unexpected
consequences of ill-conceived FCC regs, they've decided to keep the
OTA viewers from seeing it. It's still broadcast so that cable can
get it (cable gets a direct feed of the same signal sent to the
transmitter) but it's marked "hidden" in the digital bitstream. My
computer-based tuners can still get it because they already knew how.
If I do a rescan I'll lose it.

That radar is quite handy and seems to be real-time. I check it
before going for a walk, and I work with satellite equipment that's
affected by rain, so it's good to know when we'll get hit and when it
will let up.

Del Mibbler

"Sam Spade" wrote in message
...
David Moran wrote:
"Sam Spade" wrote in message
...

David Moran wrote:

While I am not a television meteorologist, I'm only telling you what my
television counterparts tell me. They've mainly complained that by the
time they get NEXRAD data, it's 10-15 minutes old.

Dave

The NEXRAD radar I pull off www.nws.noaa.gov vary from 5 to 15 minutes,
depending upon the site.

I wonder why a television station would be concerned about that delay?

If I understand correctly, the main complaint is that during severe
weather, they can't get current information fast enough so they usually
invest in their own radar.

Dave
But don't the television stations receive tornado warnings from the NWS's
Storm Perdiction Center as soon as they are issued? Those warnings are
issued by experts with all the information at hand. I can't imagine a
local television outlet that thinks it can do better, not to mention the
liability issues.

The Storm Prediction Center only issues watches. The local NWS office issues
warnings. I see your point, however, I suspect it's a marketing ploy. The
ABC station where I live is always bragging how much better their radar is
than the other stations.

Dave

Dave

On Sun, 1 Jul 2007 03:40:31 -0400, "Captain Midnight"
wrote:

"jiml" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 20:09:41 -0400, "Captain Midnight"
wrote:

Our CBS station in Houston does all the news and weather in HD. From
my vantage point, I see the doppler in HD, so don't really care
whether it comes off the radar box that way.

I know the news in HD isn't all that new. I'm talking about the RADAR. Does
the RADAR you see look like Google Earth?

http://www.whiotv.com/weather/13580217/detail.html

Unfortunately no pics or video of the output.

All Radar, by definition, is extremely low def. Seeing it in HD
adds little, if any. Instead, they should focus on improving the
studio cameras that better portray the cute little ass on the weather
girl.

On Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:26:12 -0500, "David Moran"
wrote:

"Sam Spade" wrote in message
...
I can't believe any of these television stations are actually erecting
doppler radar sites. Those things cost a fortune to buy, erect, and
maintain. And, the government runs a whole bunch of them called NEXRAD and
offer the feeds to all of us gratis.

As a meteorologist myself, the thing is that by the time the NEXRAD data can
get to everyone, it can be 10-15 minutes old. Most stations buy their own
radar because they get faster updates.

You are still looking at a typical 5 minute processing time to get the
actual image so the best the end user can hope for with the current
generation of NEXRAD is 5 minutes. There is one (that I know of)
developmental system that promises much faster processing times. I've
seen no indication/prediction as to when it'll be fully operational
and put into general use beyond that. Typically with subscription
download for aviation "in the plane" we see 5 to 10 minutes.
My subscription weather on the Internet (Weather Tap) is normally 5 to
6 minutes and that is down to the county roads on the map.

They have or did have (for a bit extra) right down to the street
address with the NEXRAD as an overlay.

Dave

On Sun, 01 Jul 2007 06:33:58 -0700, Sam Spade
wrote:

David Moran wrote:
"Sam Spade" wrote in message
...

David Moran wrote:

While I am not a television meteorologist, I'm only telling you what my
television counterparts tell me. They've mainly complained that by the
time they get NEXRAD data, it's 10-15 minutes old.

Dave

The NEXRAD radar I pull off www.nws.noaa.gov vary from 5 to 15 minutes,
depending upon the site.

I wonder why a television station would be concerned about that delay?

If I understand correctly, the main complaint is that during severe weather,
they can't get current information fast enough so they usually invest in
their own radar.

Dave

But don't the television stations receive tornado warnings from the
NWS's Storm Perdiction Center as soon as they are issued? Those
warnings are issued by experts with all the information at hand. I
can't imagine a local television outlet that thinks it can do better,
not to mention the liability issues.

It's not quite so simple. Typically it takes time for warnings to be
issued. The front line is still the spotters out there in the rain.
Here in Michigan where the average life of a tornado is less than 10
minutes, it is not unusual for the thing to be gone before the
warnings are issued. We get warnings from RADAR, trained spotters,
and civilians. Most times the untrained end up calling rain shafts
funnel clouds and funnel clouds tornados but we have to verify those.

A related aside: XM radio has become the vendor of choice to provide
NEXRAD radar images into many light aircraft that do not have airborne
weather radar. This includes anything from a portable Garmin navigator
unit to Garmin's integrated G-1000 in the new Cessna Mustang light jet
aircraft. The promotional literature claims NEXRAD radar is received in
"a near real time basis."

There is that "real time" and NEXRAD in the same sentence again. Now
there are two things to define. Real time as pertaining to NEXRAD and
what they mean by "near real time".

As an IFR rated pilot I will answer the last one first. The typical
display *update* on the G-1000 is on the order of _10_minutes_ and
they do tell the user that right up front and it should have been in
the literature. That means AT BEST you have a 10 minute old display!
The pilot really needs to know his or her *stuff* when it comes to
interpreting those images and predicting what will be happening in the
next 15 minutes. So they need a lot more information than just those
images and they need to know a lot about weather/meteorology. You do
not use those images to fly *close* to anything threatening. Nor do
you use it to thread your way through a line of closely spaced
thunderstorms unless you have a death wish. You can find hail to 3
inches at altitude out in bright sunshine 10 miles ahead of some
storms while it may be "pea sized" at ground level. Lightning is also
a potential threat up to 10 miles or a bit more from the storm.
A couple years back I was headed north from here at 5000. There was
one lone, large thunderstorm about 12 to 15 miles off to our left. My
passenger asked me how close we dared get. Just then a lightning bolt
shot out horizontally and straight at us at our altitude. Then it
curved down and struck the ground about 2 miles from us. That pretty
much answered the question.

BUT possibly/hopefully XM will be able to update in a bit more timely
manner in the future and even at 10 minutes it is a VERY useful
feature.

As to "Real Time" when it pertains to NEXRAD the typical *processed*
image contains data from sweeps that are near current to around 5
minutes old. The "next generation" NEXRAD should cut that time
substantially.

"ValveJob" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 1 Jul 2007 03:40:31 -0400, "Captain Midnight"
wrote:

"jiml" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 20:09:41 -0400, "Captain Midnight"
wrote:

Our CBS station in Houston does all the news and weather in HD. From
my vantage point, I see the doppler in HD, so don't really care
whether it comes off the radar box that way.

I know the news in HD isn't all that new. I'm talking about the RADAR.
Does
the RADAR you see look like Google Earth?

http://www.whiotv.com/weather/13580217/detail.html

Unfortunately no pics or video of the output.

All Radar, by definition, is extremely low def. Seeing it in HD
adds little, if any. Instead, they should focus on improving the
studio cameras that better portray the cute little ass on the weather
girl.

Could be but haven't seen any weather on it so can't comment. The map on the
other hand is better. If you've used mapping software you no that higher
resolution and bigger screen means you can show a bigger area with more
detail. If nothing else they can show more detail at a farther distance. It
has a 200 mile range. Kind of impressive just watching it sweep across a
little bit of Lake Michigan and a good bit more of Lake Erie. Showing where
the weathers at Should also be more accurate.

Now that you mention it. They have hired a couple of young female reporters
since going HD with the news.;)

On Sun, 01 Jul 2007 07:44:00 -0700, Sam Spade
wrote:

David Moran wrote:

"Sam Spade" wrote in message
...

David Moran wrote:

While I am not a television meteorologist, I'm only telling you what my
television counterparts tell me. They've mainly complained that by the
time they get NEXRAD data, it's 10-15 minutes old.

Dave

The NEXRAD radar I pull off www.nws.noaa.gov vary from 5 to 15 minutes,
depending upon the site.

I wonder why a television station would be concerned about that delay?

If I understand correctly, the main complaint is that during severe weather,
they can't get current information fast enough so they usually invest in
their own radar.

Dave

I found a site called weathertap.com that claims to convert NEXRAD into
"hi def." They seem to be 5 minutes, or less, old.

The subscription service is updated around every 5 minutes. The hi def
image is part of the subscription service. I consider it worth the
money although I use the RADARLAB function most often. It even has
storm track prediction with 15 minute ticks on the tracks.