Introduction to Instant Weather Pro

/

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

Following our official partnership with the Northern Tornadoes Project at Western University, their team asked us to build a state-of-the-art radar suite to help track and validate tornadoes and hail across Canada. The result is a professional-grade radar system that is now available through IW Pro.

IW Pro is a next-generation radar platform offering the same high-resolution data trusted by meteorologists. Whether you're a storm spotter, first responder, outdoor event planner, farmer, or weather enthusiast, it delivers the tools you need in an intuitive, mobile-friendly interface. It also works seamlessly on desktop and laptop, allowing you to open multiple windows for side-by-side analysis or to track different storms simultaneously.

We are also planning to launch IW Pro as a subscription tier inside our popular Instant Weather app. All current subscribers will receive access to the app version as well as the website version at no additional cost.

Instant Weather Pro on iPad

🔍 What Makes IW Pro Different

Most weather apps use a "mosaic radar" view, which is 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 and 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: Dual and Split Modes

Instant Weather Pro offers two powerful ways to compare radar products, helping it stand out from many other tools on the market.

🔄 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? We'll explain each of these in upcoming posts to help you get the most out of them.

🕒 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 which makes it 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 currently available for $99.99/year through our website.

Please note: This is our current rate and is subject to change in the future.

What’s coming soon:

  • Monthly and app-based subscription options

  • Additional tiers to match your usage needs.

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 as 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 as we're building IW Pro with your feedback in mind.

🛠️ IW Pro Settings Overview (last reviewed May 2025)

/

To open the Settings menu, tap or click the three bars in the upper-left corner of the screen.
Here’s a description of each setting. Some have recommended values, but many can be toggled based on your needs. We often switch them on and off during active use.

IW Pro settings

🔧 Settings Breakdown

Layer Opacity
Adjusts the transparency of the radar layer on the map.

Live Mode
When enabled, IW Pro auto-loads new radar frames as they become available.

Velocity Color

  • Velocity 1: Red/blue (Environment Canada standard)

  • Velocity 2: Red/green (more common in U.S.-based radar apps)

NEW – Velocity & Measurement Format
Choose between mph/kph. This setting also determines the units for the measurement tool (mi or km).

Radar Placement Accuracy

  • Recommended: 11 for most devices

  • Use 8 for slower performance

Labels and Boundaries
Toggle on or off to show location names and boundaries.

Time Display
Choose between 12-hour or 24-hour time format.

Canadian Radar Noise Reduction

  • On: Reduces radar interference spikes (“laser beams”)

  • Off: Shows additional features like hail spikes and faint outflow boundaries

Hail Size Estimation
This feature may not be available in the current production version. It was visible in recent builds but has been temporarily removed as we rolled back to a previous version due to performance issues. It may return in a future update.

Lightning Data
Toggle on to view real-time lightning strike locations on the map.

Mosaic Radar Layer
Shows the combined radar mosaic when no specific radar station is selected.
Tip: We recommend also turning off radar icons when using this layer.

NEW – IW StormRisk (Beta)
Displays IW’s experimental storm risk overlay.
[See this blog post for more details.]

NEW – Thunderstorm Forecasts
Shows Environment Canada’s “Thunderstorm Outlooks.”
Choose a time period and opacity level.
[See this blog post for details.]

Alerts
Turn this on to display alerts on the map. You can customize which types of alerts to show:

  • ECCC Alerts (from Environment Canada)

  • IW Instant Updates (our own real-time updates)

  • U.S. Alerts (from U.S. National Weather Service)

    You can also choose which specific alert types appear:

  • Instant Updates

  • Warnings

  • Watches

  • Statements and Advisories

  • U.S. Alerts
    Note: You can mix and match alert types and sources based on your preferences.

💡 Tip

To quickly reload radar data, toggle between Single, Split, and Dual modes.

Environment Canada's "Thunderstorm Outlooks"

/

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.

Featured
IMG_3115.jpg
Introduction to Instant Weather Pro
Settings-2025-02-28.jpg
🛠️ IW Pro Settings Overview (last reviewed May 2025)
IWproEC_TF.jpg
Environment Canada's "Thunderstorm Outlooks"

IW StormRisk storm track arrows and colour key

/

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

/

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

/

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.

Measurement tool in single mode

/

There is now a measurement tool that you can uses when you are in single mode.

  1. Choose Single Mode with any of the products.

  2. Click on the small open circle on the right side of the screen.

  3. With your mouse (PC) or finger (mobile) choose the center point from which to measure and hold until you reach the point you wish to measure the distance to.

  4. The radius of the circle (distance) will be displayed on the screen.

  5. You can also use this circle to “mark” a location and then zoom out.

  6. Click on the small circle again to remove the measurement circle.

In the above example Sussex was chosen as the center mark and I picked a random distance so that when I zoomed out I could see the location of Sussex.