Meteorological observations - Radar images (PNG and GeoTIF)

Through this service, a composite product with radar information is obtained from the 12 Swedish weather radar systems.

New from 2023-05-03 is that the method of composing data from the 12 plants has been changed. Before 2023-05-03, so-called altitude-based composites were used, which means that geographical points covered by several radars use data that is closest to sea level.

After 2023-05-03, so-called quality-based composites are used, which means that for geographical points covered by several radar systems, data from the radar system with the highest quality is used (given certain quality indicators).

New product is generated every 5 minutes. Radar images from October 2008 until now are provided. The images are delivered partly via an interface (GUI) and partly via a programmable interface (API). The interface displays individual images from the selected day and full day can be downloaded. In the API, individual images and full days can be downloaded. In both cases, a full day is downloaded as a zip archive.

Purpose: Weather radar is a valuable tool when making meteorological and hydrological forecasts.

Greatness: Reflectivity, strength of radare cone.

Unit: dBZ

Characteristics: Reflectivity can be translated into precipitation intensity. The reflectivity values are representative of ground level.

Design: 2-dimensional array (matrix) with reflectivity values, row by row from north to south, from left (west) to right (east).

Boundaries: Values between -30 and +72 dBZ. Reflectivity values >5 dBZ are counted as precipitation. The scale is logarithmic, meaning that negative values represent very weak echoes detected near the weather radar facility.

Format: PNG and GeoTIFF images

Delivery: The radar images are delivered via a REST API based on JSON, as well as via a web interface (GUI). In addition to individual radar images, zip archives containing 24 hours of radar images are also supplied. The GUI displays individual images from the selected day.

More information: https://www.smhi.se/Knowledge Bank/meteorology/radar-1.5942