MAPLE Nowcasting

PLEASE NOTE: The data used by this app to provide forecasts is only available for Southern Ontario, Québec, and the northeastern United States. If you are unsure if you are covered, please take a look at McGill's official Nowcasting website at https://radar.mcgill.ca/imagery/nowcasting.html.

You already have plenty of great weather apps that give forecasts for the coming days or weeks. This simple app has a single purpose: it tells you what kind of precipitation you can expect at your location (or others you choose) over the next three hours, accurate to the neighbourhood level. Want to know if you can go for a run or a bike ride in the next couple hours, but worried about those dark clouds in the distance? Check the nowcast!

How does it work? Researchers at McGill University developed an algorithm called MAPLE (McGill Algorithm for Precipitation Nowcasting by Lagrangian Extrapolation) that uses past radar imagery and wind directions to predict the motion of rain and snow storms. The university calculates this data every 20 minutes for the next three hours and provides it to the public on the web, free of charge - see the link in the notice above. This app is just a slightly more convenient way to access the data from your mobile phone or tablet.

This app is open source and built with ❤️ in 🇨🇦. You can view the sources, fork, and contribute at our GitHub repository: https://github.com/mlim15/nowcasting