FAQ Weather Data

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FAQs - Weather Information/Weather Updating Questions

Q. How often does the national radar update and where does it come from?
A. The radar data comes from the National Weather Service NEXRad radar network. The National Mosaic Radar is updated every 30 minutes while the Local Radar is updated every 6 to 10 minutes.

Q. What is NEXRAD?
A. In 1980, the National Weather Service's Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) Program was established. Special algorithms, within the NEXRAD radar's computer facility, process large volumes of data and simplify it into valuable products which give you a better operational understanding of the atmosphere.

1. The ability to see motion using the Doppler effect. This can give early warning to potential severe weather.
2. Their increased sensitivity allows you to view atmospheric conditions, such as cold fronts, dry lines, and thunderstorm gust fronts, never before visible within storms.
3. Their improved resolution allows you to view weather events in greater detail and at greater distances.
4. Their volume scanning function gives you a three-dimensional view of the weather, enabling you to better identify areas of potential severe weather; analyze the vertical storm structure; and receive more frequent and detailed wind profile updates.

Q. How do I change the location from which I receive the current conditions?
A.  To change the location from which you receive your current conditions, open the app, click on "Menu", "Options" then "View current conditions from the following location:". There are other options in this area that you can change to customize News 3 Now to your liking.

Q. Where does the local weather information come from and what areas/cities does it cover?
A. The current weather information (temperature,wind direction, humidity etc.) comes from the National Weather Service official reporting station.

Q. The temperature is not changing, why?
A. There are a few things that you need to check. News 3 Now needs to maintain an active connection to the Internet to receive the current information. Keep in mind that many Internet services will disconnect you after their predetermined amount of time.
From which location do you have the program set to retrieve the current information? Some sites that we receive information from do not send information out as often as we update the program - once every five minutes. However, the sites provided by the National Weather Service only update at the top of the hour.
Also, have you tried right-clicking on the app then clicking on Refresh?

Q. Why does News 3 Now not display the wind chill factor?
A. Wind Chill calculation starts when the ambient temperature reaches 40 degrees. When the temperature is 40 degrees or less you can view the wind chill by scrolling down using the arrows next to the temperature.

Q. The crawls and/or the local area warning map are not working, why?
A. The only time that the crawls and/or the local area warning map are shown is during the duration of a watch and/or warning. However, you can customize these features (i.e. number of times the crawl will scroll across your screen) by opening the program, clicking on “Menu” then “Options”.

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