This is observed weather information. This module provides information on the near real time and recent intensity of rain; the location and movement of these rain systems. MetService has a network of nine (soon to be ten) Doppler radar systems that are designed to detect rain droplets in the atmosphere. The radar makes one complete scan every seven minutes. We display scans over the last six hours in the national view, while scans over the last three hours are displayed in the individual radar views. The animation controller, loop toggle, speed controller and legend button are used as described below.

There are some pitfalls to be aware of when using the radar. Here are some: 

• If a rain echo is not moving, it may not be rain. In certain situations (usually in strong anticyclonic conditions), the radar beam can be deflected down to the ground, resulting in ‘permanent echoes’ that do not move.

• The radar cannot detect rainfall behind hills and significant solid structures.  

• Strong rain echoes may attenuate rain echoes that are located behind them. 

Navigation

The navigation bar at the left of the Rain Radar shows the series of times at which observed images are available. The observed time for the current image is highlighted in orange. As the player buttons are used, the highlighted image time will alter accordingly. To alter the displayed image, hover the mouse on a time that is visible in the list. To quickly navigate through all the images available, hover across the orange bar available at the far left.

Player

Images can be animated using the player buttons, which operate as follows:

	Display the first image in the series
	Display the previous image in the series
	Play the images in sequence
	Stop the images playing in sequence
	Display the next image in the series
	Display the last image in the series
	When playing the images, treat the data series as a loop to jump from last to first and vice versa.
	Alter the speed at which images are played. Selecting a negative speed will play images in reverse order.

Legend

Use the legend button to view:

Rain