Radar legend

What the radar map and its tools show — briefly explained. As of September 2026

Radar map

The map shows current precipitation across Europe and, if you wish, runs as a time lapse of the past few hours. For Germany there is an additional, particularly sharp view taken straight from the individual radars; the neighbouring countries (Austria, Czechia and Poland among others) come from their respective national weather services. The layer menu lets you switch every layer on or off individually and adjust its opacity.

Precipitation colour scale

Blue-grey and blue stand for light precipitation, green for moderate, yellow and orange for heavy rain. From roughly 50 dBZ it turns red — very strong echoes. Pink and magenta from 55 dBZ point to hail, violet from 60 dBZ to extreme cores, turquoise from 70 dBZ to the highest values ever measured. Within each colour family the shade darkens towards the top — the darker the green or the red, the stronger the echo. The radar composite and the single-radar view use the same scale.

Storm cells and tracks

Detected storm cells appear as markers with a coloured outline — the stronger the colour, the more intense the cell. A click opens the details: lightning activity, precipitation, hail assessment, gust potential and the track so far. The red cone shows the likely onward path, the blue dots on it the estimated time of arrival — click a dot to see the time.

Mesocyclones

Purple vortex markers show rotating updraughts (mesocyclones) detected by the German Weather Service — the precursor of possible tornadoes. The dashed circle matches the approximate extent of the rotation.

3D view

The “3D view” button in the cell window opens the cell as a three-dimensional volume: you can see how high the storm reaches, where its strongest parts are and how it sits above the landscape. Dragging rotates the view, the scroll wheel (or two fingers) zooms. The sliders hide weak echoes and exaggerate the height; the base map (dark, light, satellite, terrain) can be switched, and a scale along the edge shows the height in kilometres.

For mesocyclones the 3D view also shows an animated vortex: green means motion towards the radar, red/magenta away from it — which makes the rotation visible.

Lightning

Lightning strikes appear on the map in real time and fade as they age. The size reflects the strength of the strike.

Doppler wind

The Doppler layer shows air motion as measured by the respective radar: green moves towards the radar, red away from it. Where strong green and red sit right next to each other, that can indicate rotation.

Weather warnings

Official warnings issued by the German Weather Service can be shown as a layer. They are for orientation — the official channels of the authorities always take precedence.

Chasers on the map

Members who have switched on live tracking appear on the map with their team symbol. Every member decides whether and to whom their own position is visible; the private radius around the home location is never transmitted. A click on a chaser shows the team and — where provided — the social media channels.

Photo archive and photo spots

Members can upload their weather photos, tag them with the place they were taken and show them in the archive, on their profile, on the team page or as a photo spot on the radar map. Visibility can be set per photo.

Teams

Chasers can join an existing team or found one of their own. Every team has its own page with members and shared photos; the team symbol appears on the map during live tracking.