Expanding on the great success of our HAMrad I service, we have been busily working to create our upcoming HAMrad II service which is now in live beta testing.

http://mapcenter.hamweather.net/radar/ptype/latest/us.html

Some of the great new features of HAMrad II include:

• Greatly improved precipitation type maps.
• Higher resolutions providing for improved quality and details. The following sample image shows how closely related the topographical base map is with the actual precipitation type (rain in the lowlands versus snow in the higher elevations).
  
• Now more than 170 views with the addition of over 120 local views. Click through directly to many of the local views by hovering over the Continental US map and selecting the highlighted areas.
• Optional topographical or flat base maps.
• New capability for overlays which can be applied directly to the image or displayed via Javascript, including: warnings, counties, interstates, rivers, radar summaries and more.
• New radar imagery, including composite reflectivity, 1-hour precipitation totals, storm precipitation totals, vertically integrated liquid and echo tops.
• Animation options of 2, 6, 12 and 24 hours.
• Standard sizes now include 800×600.

As always, and especially during our beta period, we welcome comments and suggestions. No official go-live date has been set but will be determined by the beta testing period.

Is it going to be colder than normal? I’m going on vacation in June, what will the weather be like?
These are common questions that we are often asked. To help answer these questions, we are introducing the new climate area, accessible via:

http://climate.hamweather.com

The new climate area incorporates data from several sources into a user friendly and easily accessible format. Some of the great features of the climate area include:

• Records Events - View the records set over the past couple days, the past week or even a specific date from the past couple years. You can mouse over the map to view individual records or in tabular format below the map.
   
• Normals – HAMweather has created a collection of maps that detail the normal precipitation, highs, lows and mean temperatures for all 365 days of the year, as well as monthly and yearly summaries. Maps are available for the Continental US, 9 regional views, Alaska and Hawaii.One of my favorite maps from this set is the CONUS view of the yearly precipitation. This map allows you to easily depict the drier conditions east of the Rockies and the increased areas of precipitation in the southeast by the Gulf of Mexico.

  Another great feature of the Normals area and many of the other maps is the ability to click on a regional map to view a tooltip of the data near the location clicked on the map:
  
  In the tooltip you can click the “More Details” link to view the normals in tabular form, either a daily view for the month or a monthly view for the year.
   

• Temperature Change – The improved temperature change maps provide the change in temperature as compared to 24 hours ago, as well as 1 hour ago. Like most of the other regional views, clicking on the map will display more information for the location clicked:
  
  The southeast was definitely much cooler the morning of the Feb 27^th than it was the morning of Feb 26^th!
   
• Forecasted Departure from Normal Highs (and Lows) – As part of the short-term outlooks, these maps are providing the forecasted departure from the normal highs and lows for days 1 through 7.
  Here we can see the forecasted highs for the central plains on Feb 28^th, look to be above normal.
  
• Long Term Outlooks – This map set, based on data provided by the NOAA Climate Prediction Center, display the probabilities of the temperatures and precipitation being above or below normal for a specific time range. Available ranges include days 8-14, the next month and for the next year in three month intervals.

Upcoming HWClimate Service
Within the next couple of weeks, HAMweather will begin offering a HWClimate content service. With this service, you will be able to add custom branded map images and data to your websites, visual displays, mobile devices and more. More details to come.

The new HAMvid Basic Package allows you to add select HAMvid branded feeds to your website for free! Now you can easily add the HAMvid weather content delivery system to your site.

The select HAMvid feeds available in the HAMvid Basic package currently include:

National Current Conditions - Includes current conditions of the Continental US displayed on animated maps.
US National Summary - Provides current conditions and forecasts for major cities through our the US.
Local Weather Outlook - Displays the local current conditions, shortterm outlook and 7 day forecast for US zip codes.

Integration into a web page is as simple as adding a single <script> tag to the web page or HAMweather template where you would like the HAMvid player to be displayed.

Start using HAMvid basic today and enjoy the benefits of an improved web visitor experience and loyalty.

Wildfires have been raging out of control across Southern California for the past several days, fueled by dry ground conditions, low humidity and very strong Santa Ana (offshore) winds. Large wildfires are reported across seven counties in the region surrounding San Diego and Los Angeles where almost 250,000 acres have burned and thousands forced to evacuate from their homes and communities. Winds have peaked well over hurricane force and in several cases have reached as high as 100 mph. High wind and fire advisories remain in place for the region as conditions will remain quite favorable for continuing and additional wildfires.

Our SuperSat imagery (via HAMsat) clearly depicts the smoke rising from the fires on the ground as well as the strong Santa Ana winds carrying the smoke plumes westward over the eastern Pacific. The following image was from around 4:30 PM EDT (1:30 PM PDT) which shows the major fires burning at the time. The clockwise flow around the strong area of high pressure which is helping to create the strong offshore winds can also be seen as the smoke begins to flow more towards the northwest once over the Pacific Ocean.

Click here to view a 9-hour animation of the smoke plumes (~6.5mb).

View the latest HW SuperSat image for Southern California (Sector 24) and the Baja Peninsula (Sector 25).

Click the image below for the full version.