NEXRAD radar scans
noaa:nexrad-level2 · Released · Included since usdata 0.2.
NEXRAD Level II Radar.
At a glance
- Files: NEXRAD Level II
- Selection: Whole radar scans by site and inclusive UTC scan-start time
- Required inputs: Both timestamps; radar IDs or a geographic query
- Open locally:
usdata[radar]· Reader guide - Examples: radar reflectivity
Usage and limitations
noaa:nexrad-level2 downloads whole Level II scans over anonymous HTTPS from the
public archive. Provide both timestamps and a radar ID or geographic query.
Start with a dry run to inspect the number and size of files:
usdata fetch noaa:nexrad-level2 -p site=KTLX \
--start 2024-05-06T20:00Z --end 2024-05-06T20:05Z --dry-run
UTC bounds include both endpoints. A date-only end means midnight at the start
of that day. Remove --dry-run to download. There is no server-side variable
subsetting; each file contains the available scan moments.
site and sites are mutually exclusive and accept non-empty strings or lists.
IDs are case-insensitive. With a geographic query, nearest selects a positive
number of nearby radars and cannot be combined with explicit IDs. Selection
falls back to the nearest radar when none lies inside the bounding rectangle.
The bundled station list excludes test/research radars from default selection.
See archive and station metadata notes.
The optional usdata[radar] reader opens local scans with xradar; an explicit
zero-based sweep chooses a sweep. See reader limits,
temporal selection, and the
executed radar example.
Catalog reference
- Availability: since 0.2
- Domain: Weather radar
- Geographic bounds (WGS84): west -180°, south 15°, east -60°, north 72°
- Catalog date range: 1991-06-01 to open-ended
- Coverage varies by station, product, and date; the range above does not guarantee observations.
- Upstream documentation
- License: US Government Work (public domain)
- Transport:
s3 - Adapter:
usdata.providers.noaa.nexrad:NexradLevel2