Navigating interactive weather information
Find information on how to navigate through the different features presented in the interactive weather map.
On this page
Alerts
Alerts are issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) for weather or environmental hazard events that are either occurring, imminent, or forecast to develop.
Access public weather alerts on the Weather Information page.
How to access alert information
Users can get alert information for any location in Canada by selecting the alert-indicated area on the map. This action will open a window that provides alert information for that location. Select the respective alert banner in the panel window to expand the alert and get more information about that particular alert. When an alert banner is expanded in the panel, the event is highlighted on the map.
Panel window with alert details
Long description
Map with an overview of Canada on the Transportation basemap with numerous alerts and radar echoes located throughout Canada. A pinpoint near Bathurst, NB, with a panel indicating weather information (Extreme cold warning with light snow) for ‘Bathurst and Chaleur Region, NB’ on January 24, 2023 at 2:30 PM EST. Animation controls for the map are visible at the bottom of the map.
Long description
Map with an overview of Canada on the Transportation basemap with numerous alerts and radar echoes located throughout Canada. A pinpoint near Bathurst, NB, with a panel displaying the alert information of an extreme cold warning for ‘Bathurst and Chaleur Region, NB’ on January 24, 2023. Animation controls for the map are visible at the bottom of the map.
The weather alert table
Users can access this table by scrolling to it below the interactive map or by selecting “alert table is available” in the statement above the map.
Long description
The alert table found below the webmap. A collapsed view of all provinces with active alerts: British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec.
Using the search table box in the upper left of the table will allow you to search the table for specific regions or alert types. By selecting “Expand All” in the upper right, all current alerts for each province will be displayed in the table.
Types of alerts
New: Visit our weather alerts page for weather alert type definitions and more.
| Colours | Name | Alert | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grey | Special Weather Statement | The least urgent type of alert issued to let people know that conditions are unusual and could cause concern. | |
| Grey | Advisory | Issued for specific weather events (like blowing snow, fog, freezing drizzle and frost) that are less severe, but could still impact Canadians. | |
| Yellow | Watch | An alert about weather conditions that are favourable for a storm or severe weather, which could cause safety concerns, often on short notice. | |
| Red | Warning | An urgent message that severe weather is either occurring or will occur. Warnings are usually issued six to 24 hours in advance, although some severe weather (such as thunderstorms and tornadoes) can occur rapidly, with less than a half hour’s notice. |
Learn more about alerts
- Learn more about the criteria for public weather alerts.
- Download the WeatherCAN app and turn on notifications to receive weather alerts in your area.
- Be prepared for severe weather.
- See our 'No Forecast and Alert Services Map'.
Radar
Weather radar is a tool for tracking storms in real time and allows you to see the current location and previous movement of precipitation. The legend on the radar map indicates the intensity of the precipitation. Radar imagery is useful in determining when precipitation will reach a given location.
Return to the Weather Information page.
Precipitation types
Select “Precipitation Types” to see five types of precipitation (Rain, Snow, Freezing rain, Hail, Mix) with three intensities each (Light, Moderate, Heavy).
Precipitation type is available with a maximum range of 240 km for Canadian radars and 230 km for U.S. radars.
|
Type |
Colours |
Colour |
|
Light snow |
|
Light blue |
|
Moderate snow |
|
Blue |
|
Heavy snow |
|
Dark blue |
|
Light mixed rain/snow |
|
Light purple |
|
Moderate mixed rain/snow |
|
Purple |
|
Heavy mixed rain/snow |
|
Dark purple |
|
light rain |
|
Light green |
|
Moderate rain |
|
Green |
|
Heavy rain |
|
Dark green |
|
Hail or rain |
|
Yellow |
|
Light freezing rain |
|
Light red |
|
Moderate/Heavy freezing rain |
|
Red |
Precipitation intensity (rainfall or snowfall)
The radar map displays the intensity of the precipitation by way of varying colours. Our radar imagery has two “modes” – rain or snow mode – and each mode is automatically displayed depending on the season.
Rain mode displays precipitation in mm/h. It is the default from April 1 to November 30.
Snow mode displays precipitation in cm/h. It is the default from December 1 to March 31.
Note, however, that these two modes cannot be displayed simultaneously, and once the choice is made, the coloured imagery only indicates the intensity of precipitation.
Intensity scale
The radar layer intensity can be displayed using an eight or fourteen colour palette. By default, the fourteen colour palette is used, but some users may find the eight colour palette more accessible.
|
Rain |
Colours |
Colour |
Snow |
Intensity |
|
200+ |
|
Dark purple |
20+ |
Heavy |
|
125 - 199.9 |
|
Light purple |
10.0 - 19.9 |
Heavy |
|
100 - 124.9 |
|
Pink |
7.5 - 9.9 |
Heavy |
|
64.0 - 99.9 |
|
Red |
5.0 - 7.4 |
Heavy |
|
50.0 - 63.9 |
|
Dark Orange |
4.0 - 4.9 |
Moderate |
|
32.0 - 49.9 |
|
Orange |
3.0 - 3.9 |
Moderate |
|
24.0 - 31.9 |
|
Light orange |
2.0 - 2.9 |
Moderate |
|
16.0 - 23.9 |
|
Yellow |
1.5 - 1.9 |
Moderate |
|
12.0 - 15.9 |
|
Dark green |
1.0 - 1.4 |
Moderate |
|
8.0 - 11.9 |
|
Medium green |
0.75 - 0.99 |
Moderate |
|
4.0 - 7.9 |
|
Green |
0.5 - 0.74 |
Moderate |
|
2.0 - 3.9 |
|
Light green |
0.3 - 0.49 |
Moderate |
|
1.0 - 1.9 |
|
Dark blue |
0.2 - 0.29 |
Light |
|
0.1 - 0.9 |
|
Light blue |
0.1 - 0.19 |
Light |
Long description
14 colour intensity scale alongside rain and snow value by intensity.
|
Rain |
Colours |
Colour |
Snow |
Intensity |
|
125+ |
|
Dark purple |
10.0+ |
Heavy |
|
64.0 - 124.9 |
|
Purple |
5.0 - 9.9 |
Heavy |
|
32.0 - 63.9 |
|
Light purple |
3.0 - 4.9 |
Moderate |
|
16.0 - 31.9 |
|
Pink |
1.5 - 2.9 |
Moderate |
|
8.0 - 15.9 |
|
Dark green |
0.75 - 1.4 |
Moderate |
|
2.0 - 7.9 |
|
Medium green |
0.3 - 0.74 |
Moderate |
|
1.0 - 1.9 |
|
Green |
0.2 - 0.29 |
Light |
|
0.1 - 0.9 |
|
Light green |
0.1 - 0.19 |
Light |
Long description
8 colour intensity scale alongside rain and snow value by intensity.
How to access radar information on the map
The “short animation” option displays a series of 11 frames at 6-minute intervals over a one hour period and is the default display of the radar imagery.
The “long animation” displays a series of 16 frames at 12-minute intervals over a three hour period. This option allows a user to look further back in time at the previous motion of the precipitation.
Panel window with radar details
Users can get radar precipitation rate information for areas within the radar network coverage in Canada by selecting an area on the map. This action will bring up a panel window that provides precipitation rate information for that location.
Outages and no network
Areas covered by grey hatching on the map indicate areas of no radar coverage where radar data is not available, or intermittently missing. These include areas where the missing data is due to a radar being out of service. This grey hatched coverage area is dynamic and updated every 6 minutes.
For a map solely indicating areas of no forecast and alert services, visit the “No Forecast and Alert Services Map” page. For information on individual radar outages, visit the “Radar outages and maintenance” page.
Learn more about radar
For technical information about Canadian Weather Radar.
Learn more about Modernizing Canada’s weather-radar network.
For historical radar products (archived images), visit the “Canadian Historical Weather Radar” page.
To better understand the old radar data, read about Canadian historical weather radar.
Lightning layer
If you hear thunder or see a brown circle over your area on the Lightning Map, go to a safe place like an enclosed building with plumbing and wiring, or an all-metal vehicle right away. Stay there for at least 30 minutes after the last sound of thunder. Remember: When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!
- How to use the Lightning Map
- Map symbols and functions
- How often the map updates
- Learn more about Lightning
How to use the Lightning Map
The Lightning Map is a layer on our interactive Weather Information map that shows where lightning is happening across Canada in real-time. To view lightning strikes, the lightning layer must be turned on.
Long description
Figure 4 is a map of central Saskatchewan, near Saskatoon, with a legend and an animation bar. The image shows several brown circles of different sizes to indicate the locations of lightning strikes and clusters of lightning strikes. The lightning strike indicators are layered on top of a radar image showing rain in the area.
How to turn on the Lightning layer:
- Find the “Layers” menu in the top right-hand corner of the interactive Weather Information map.
- Use the toggle to turn on “Lightning” from the menu options.
Map symbols and functions
Long description
Figure 5 is the lightning strike legend, showing how many lightning strikes each circle represents. The smallest circle represents 1-5 strikes, with the largest representing a cluster of over 101 strikes.
Brown circles show where lightning was detected by Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Canadian Lightning Detection Network. Lightning strikes displayed south of the border are provided courtesy of the Vaisala National Lightning Detection Network.
The circles are centred over areas of lightning. The more lightning strikes there are in an area, the larger the circle. As you zoom in, the circles may become smaller as there are fewer strikes in the area displayed on your screen. Zooming in will show a more precise location of each strike or cluster of strikes.
If the lightning layer is turned on and no circles appear, that means the network has not detected cloud-to-ground lightning in the last hour. However, there is a chance that there is lightning in your area that is not reaching the ground.
The lightning map shows lightning strikes in real-time, it is not a forecast.
boundary within which lightning strikes are plotted, extending
slightly beyond our borders.
Long description
Figure 6 shows a map of Canada with a red line surrounding it extending moderately past its borders.
How often the map updates
There are 11 images in each hour-long animation – one for every 6 minutes.
Animation images
The lightning layer and radar layer of the interactive Weather Information map both show new data every 6 minutes. However, we get lightning data every minute. The map will show all the lightning strikes that happen between each of the 6-minute radar images.
The last image you see shows the lightning data we received since the last full 6-minutes.
Learn more about Lightning
- Learn more about the Lightning Map
- Lightning Safety
- How we detect lightning
- Learn more about Lightning
General map navigation
Long description
This interactive weather map shows the observed precipitation and all the alerts in effect at a glance. You can:
- zoom into a specific region
- select a coloured alert area to learn more about the alert
- select the “play button” to view the movement of observed precipitation
- turn off the alerts layer or the radar layer to view just one layer at a time
Zoom in and out
Users can zoom in and out, and pan the map to see what is occurring in different parts of the country. This action is achieved by selecting the [ + ] or [ – ] on the top left of the map, or scrolling with your mouse wheel on top of the chosen location.
Selecting the home icon will return the map to the national view; the current location icon will centre the map on the user’s location. Also, by selecting the four corners icon this will expand the map to a full screen view.
Base maps
The transportation base map adds major Canadian railways, roads and highways to the default map. This map is open source and details are available on the Canada Base Map Transportation (CBMT) page on the Open Government website.
Caching
A user’s setting preferences, such as transparency, radar intensity, animation speed and length, will be automatically cached (kept) for future visits. Clearing the cache will erase these preferences and return the map to default settings upon browser launch.
Embed on your website
To integrate radar information as well as other weather, climate and water data on your web pages, mobile applications and specialized software, you may use the publicly available products via an API and other web services.
Related links
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