Animation timeline

With the zoomable animation timeline, users can easily visualize and animate current, nowcasted, or historical data.

The histogram provides at-a-glance information on the amount and intensity of weather for points in time.

The Lightning Threat Zone product is not displayed during animations due to the time it takes to render the threat zones.

Figure 1. Animation controls
  1. On the animation timeline, select the time of the data you want to view:
    1. To find an approximate time, use the < and > buttons, or pan the indicator back and forth by dragging it with your mouse.
    2. To zoom in and out on the level of detail, use the + and - buttons, or the scroll wheel on your mouse.
    3. To select a time, select the search icon on the right of the time line.
    4. To return to the current time, select Now.
  2. To start a looping animation of the data, select Play.
    1. Move the start and end time indicators along the time line, or select a preset animation.
    2. Adjust the animation speed with the controls on the left side of the timeline.
    3. To set only a part of the weather history to be animated, drag the start and end points to the desired positions on the timeline. The animation settings update in real time.
    4. By default, the animation stops for 1 second before looping back to the beginning. To change this, select Preferences.

    The length of the animation is defined by the update interval of layer number 1.

    • Most radar products have an update interval of 15 minutes, but some are updated every 5 minutes or every 60 minutes.
    • For most lidar products, the update interval varies from a few seconds to about 10 minutes.
    • Lighting products do not have a specified update interval
  3. To view and animate nowcasted radar data, drag the playback slider along the timeline into the future.

    The timestamp formatting indicates that the display is showing nowcasted data. For example: