Introduction to Instant Weather Pro

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Welcome to Instant Weather Pro, our most powerful radar platform yet — designed for those who want more control, more detail, and more precision when tracking the weather across Canada and the U.S.

Whether you are a storm spotter, first responder, outdoor event planner, farmer, or just a weather enthusiast, IW Pro gives you access to the same high-resolution radar data that meteorologists rely on — all in one clean, mobile-friendly interface.

Instant Weather Pro on iPad

🔍 What Makes IW Pro Different

Most weather apps use a "mosaic radar" view — a blended image from multiple radar stations. While that is great for getting a broad picture, it smooths out important details.

With Instant Weather Pro, you can:

- View individual radar stations directly — not just the combined mosaic.

- Choose from multiple radar products to get different types of data.

- Control the elevation angle (tilt) to see different slices of the atmosphere.

- Compare radar products using Dual Mode or Split Mode.

- Enjoy ad-free browsing with a faster and cleaner experience.

- Track weather using desktop, tablet, or mobile — all through your browser.

🛰️ Compare Radar Products with Dual and Split Modes

Instant Weather Pro offers two powerful ways to compare radar products — something that sets it apart from many other tools:

🔄 Dual Mode (Side-by-Side)

Use Dual Mode to view two radar products at the same time, side by side.

- Great for tracking how features like wind rotation (Velocity) line up with precipitation patterns (Reflectivity).

- You can zoom and pan both views together to follow the storm from multiple perspectives.

Dual Mode on a laptop, showing Reflectivity (left) and Velocity (right) from the Didsbury, AB tornado (EF4) on July 1, 2023.

🧭 Split Mode (Swipe Slider)

Split Mode lets you compare two radar products in the same view using a draggable slider.

- Move the slider left or right to reveal one product on one side and the other on the opposite side.

- Unlike side-by-side views, everything stays perfectly aligned, making it easy to see exactly where features overlap.

- Ideal for quickly checking if a hook echo on Reflectivity lines up with rotation on Velocity.

Whether you prefer a side-by-side layout or a swipe-to-compare approach, IW Pro gives you the flexibility to analyze radar data your way.

Below is the Didsbury, AB tornado displayed in Split Mode. This iPhone-recorded video demonstrates how you can swipe between Reflectivity and Velocity radar products to observe how storm features align.

🛰️ Radar Products Available

IW Pro lets you switch between several advanced radar products, including:

- Reflectivity – See the intensity of precipitation.

- Velocity – Measure wind moving toward or away from the radar (great for spotting rotation).

- Correlation Coefficient, Differential Reflectivity, and Specific Differential Phase – Advanced tools used by weather experts to detect hail, debris, and rainfall structure.

Not sure which product to use? Don’t worry — we’ll walk you through each one in upcoming posts.

🕒 Access Past Radar with Historical Data

Missed a storm? No problem.

Instant Weather Pro gives you access to historical radar data, so you can revisit and review previous weather events — ideal for storm analysis, research, or just satisfying your curiosity.

- Scroll through archived radar loops for past days.

- Analyze storms in detail using different radar products.

- Perfect for training, educational use, or verifying what happened.

This feature also helps us create clear blog visuals, even when the weather is quiet — many of the radar examples in this blog were captured from past events.

💡 Customization at Your Fingertips

You can fine-tune your radar view by:

- Changing radar products with one click.

- Adjusting the elevation angle (tilt) for surface or higher-level scans.

- Choosing radar loop speed or stepping frame by frame.

- Switching color schemes (like green/red velocity view).

💰 Subscription and Access

IW Pro is available for $99.99/year through our website.

Coming soon:

- Monthly and app-based subscriptions for even more flexibility.

- Multiple subscription tiers to match different levels of use.

We recommend signing up on our website for the best value. App store purchases include additional platform fees.

🚀 Ready to Get Started?

Ready to explore advanced radar features? Subscribe to Instant Weather Pro today and take your virtual storm chasing to the next level.

And be sure to check back here on the blog — we’re building a growing library of helpful tips to make the most of your IW Pro experience!

Have questions or feature suggestions? Let us know — we're building IW Pro with your feedback in mind.

Settings as of February 28 2025

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We have added some new features. Here are the settings as of February 28 2025:

Layer Opacity: The opacity of the data layer on the map.

Live Mode: When turned on IW Pro will auto load new frames as they become available.

Velocity Color: Velocity 1 is red/blue (Environment Canada standard) and Velocity 2 is red/green (more commonly used)

NEW Velocity & Measurement Format: Mph or Km/h. As well as setting the velocity units it also sets the units for the measurement tool (mi or km).

Radar Placement Accuracy: Use a lower value if your device is slow (8) otherwise we recommend 11.

Labels and Boundaries: Turn on/off the labels and boundaries.

Time Display: Choose 24 hour or 12 hour time display.

Canadian Radar Noise Reduction: Turn on to remove the radar interference spikes (laser beams). Turn off to see features such as hail spikes and faint outflow boundaries.

Lightning Data: Turn on to see the location of lightning.

Mosaic Radar Layer: Turn on to see the mosaic radar layer. Note that you must not have a radar station selected to see the mosaic radar. We recommend also turning off radar icons.

NEW IW StormRisk (Beta): Turn on to see the IW StormRisk. See this blog post for more details.

NEW Thunderstorm Forecasts: Choose which time period to see Environment Canada’s official “Thunderstorm Outlooks”. You can also choose the opacity. See this blog post for details.

Alerts: Turn on to see the ECCC alerts and IW Instant Updates. You can also choose which types of Alerts to see. Instant Updates, Warnings, Watches, Statements & Advisories and U.S. Alerts.

Note: One quick way to reload the radar is to switch between SINGLE/SPLIT/DUAL modes.

Environment Canada's "Thunderstorm Outlooks"

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Environment Canada's official "Thunderstorm Outlooks" have been integrated into Instant Weather PRO!

Day 1, Night 1, Day 2 and Day 3 are all be included with full details when you select the forecast on the map.

Screenshot of ECCC Thunderstorm Forecast

You can select a day or turn it off in rendering parameters. You can also specify the opacity.

Here are a couple more examples including a funnel cloud risk.

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Introduction to Instant Weather Pro
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Settings as of February 28 2025
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Environment Canada's "Thunderstorm Outlooks"

IW StormRisk storm track arrows and colour key

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The StormRisk storm track arrows have been added so that you can see the predicted direction of travel of the storm(s).

With the radar turned on:

Here are some examples of the colours of the outlines with the Total Severe Risk percentages. Note that the thickness of the outline also increases when the risk increases as well. You can see that in some of the examples where there is another outline present in the screenshots (24-48).

Note that the black colour for greater than 85% is a bug. You will not be able to see against the black map but it will show up well when radar is on.

IW StormRisk is live

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IW StormRisk is live for all IW Pro users and combined alert polygons are live in Canada as well!

To turn on IW StormRisk just click on the menu (three bars at the top left) and click to turn it on:

IW StormRisk only works as far north as 51N (basically just south of Calgary) but we have plans to extend it further north to 55N, which will include locations like Saskatoon and Edmonton.

The thickness of the outline is related to the risk level as well as the colour of the outline is related to the type of risks. Here are some examples:

Look for irregular shapes and click on them to see the IW StormRisk:

Mosaic Radar Layer

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You can now utilize the Mosaic Radar Layer to gain a comprehensive view of weather systems. This feature allows you to zoom in on specific storms of interest for a detailed analysis using IW Pro.

Turn it on in Rendering Parameters:

The Mosiac Radar Layer will be visible if no radar stations are selected. Below alerts and radar icons are turned off:

Below alerts are turned on:

Zoomed into a tornado warned storm:

Selected a radar station and Mosaic Radar Layer is turned off:

Note: The Mosaic Radar Layer is not automatically updated.

Settings as of July 9 2024

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We have added some new features. Here are the settings as of July 9 2024:

Layer Opacity: The opacity of the data layer on the map.

Live Mode: When turned on IW Pro will auto load new frames as they become available.

Velocity Color: Velocity 1 is red/blue (Environment Canada standard) and Velocity 2 is red/green (more commonly used)

Radar Placement Accuracy: Use a lower value if your device is slow (8) otherwise we recommend 11.

Labels and Boundaries: Turn on/off the labels and boundaries.

NEW Time Display: Choose 24 hour or 12 hour time display.

Canadian Radar Noise Reduction: Turn on to remove the radar interference spikes (laser beams). Turn off to see features such as hail spikes and faint outflow boundaries.

Lightning Data: Turn on to see the location of lightning.

NEW Mosaic Radar Layer: Turn on to see the mosaic radar layer. Note that you must not have a radar station selected to see the mosaic radar. We recommend also turning off radar icons.

Alerts: Turn on to see the ECCC alerts and IW Instant Updates. You can also choose which types of Alerts to see. Instant Updates, Warnings, Watches, Statements & Advisories and U.S. Alerts (NEW).

Note: One quick way to reload the radar is to switch between SINGLE/SPLIT/DUAL modes.