TOC > MSC data > Radar > Radar data on MSC GeoMet
Weather radar data available on MSC GeoMet
MSC GeoMet provides access to several popular North American weather radar composite and extrapolation layers. Users can build mobile apps, create interactive web maps, and display and animate weather radar layers in desktop software.
Access to the geospatial web services
The weather radar layers are available on GeoMet-Weather via the Web Map Service (WMS) standard.
Example of a web map configured to display the weather radar composite and extrapolation using WMS layers served by MSC GeoMet:
MSC GeoMet's North American weather radar composite and extrapolation layers can be seen in action in ECCC's WeatherCAN mobile app.
Usage
The usage overview page provides generic information on using these services with desktop software, mobile apps, interactive web maps and direct access. Please refer to the tutorials and technical documentation on MSC GeoMet geospatial web services for detailed information. See also the main weather radar data page which links to additional information on weather radar.
Available layers
Weather radar layers are updated every 6 minutes. The last 3 hours of data is available on MSC GeoMet.
North American radar composite [1 km]:
- Radar precipitation rate for rain [mm/hr], ID:
RADAR_1KM_RRAI - Radar precipitation rate for snow [cm/hr], ID:
RADAR_1KM_RSNO - Corresponding dynamic radar coverage layers:
- Coverage for Rain, ID:
RADAR_COVERAGE_RRAI. ID for inverted style:RADAR_COVERAGE_RRAI.INV - Coverage for Snow, ID:
RADAR_COVERAGE_RSNO. ID for inverted style:RADAR_COVERAGE_RSNO.INV
- Coverage for Rain, ID:
North American radar surface precipitation type [1 km]:
- Radar surface precipitation type [experimental], ID:
Radar_1km_SfcPrecipType - Corresponding dynamic radar coverage layer [experimental]:
- Coverage, ID:
Radar-Coverage_SfcPrecipType. ID for inverted style:Radar-Coverage_SfcPrecipType-Inverted
- Coverage, ID:
North American radar extrapolation [1 km]:
- Radar extrapolation precipitation rate for rain [mm/h] [experimental], ID:
Radar_1km_RainPrecipRate-Extrapolation - Radar extrapolation precipitation rate for snow [mm/h] [experimental], ID:
Radar_1km_SnowPrecipRate-Extrapolation - Radar extrapolation precipitation rate [dBZ] [experimental], ID:
Radar_1km_dBZ-Extrapolation
Usage tips
Retrieving the list of latest layer timesteps available:
- Users can use the
layerquery parameter in WMS GetCapabilities requests to point to a specific layer and retrieve a smaller XML payload with up-to-date temporal dimensions. Example for the 1km radar snow layer: https://geo.weather.gc.ca/geomet?service=WMS&version=1.3.0&request=GetCapabilities&layer=RADAR_1KM_RSNO - Users can also get the most up-to-date time dimensions for all radar layers with a time interval in minutes, in a single query, via the use of the
LAYERS_REFRESH_RATE=PT1Mquery parameter. In addition, all layers with a time interval in minutes will be included in this WMS GetCapabilities. Example for the query: https://geo.weather.gc.ca/geomet?LAYERS_REFRESH_RATE=PT1M&SERVICE=WMS&REQUEST=GetCapabilities - Additional information is available in the handling time with WMS section
WMS styles:
- In addition to the default WMS style, several alternative WMS styles with different color scales are available. The list of available WMS styles is provided in the WMS GetCapabilities response
- Furthermore, users can request layers with their own custom styles with the Styled Layer Descriptor (SLD) standard, please refer to the SLD technical documentation
Legends:
- Legends are available for every WMS style. Details are provided in the WMS legend technical documentation
- Legend retrieval request example:
https://geo.weather.gc.ca/geomet?version=1.3.0&service=WMS&request=GetLegendGraphic&sld_version=1.1.0&layer=RADAR_1KM_RRAI&format=image/png&STYLE=RADARURPPRECIPR14-LINEAR
Support
The MSC GeoMet services are operational 24/7. User support is provided on a best-effort basis during normal business hours. If you have any questions about these services, please contact us.
Announcement mailing list
We encourage users to subscribe to the GeoMet-Info announcement mailing list to be informed of enhancements and changes to the MSC GeoMet services.