Super Resolution Reflectivity and More in RadarScope

Although RadarScope is pricier than many iOS apps at $9.99, it is worth it for what you get, especially if you live in an area of the United States that gets a lot of severe weather, like Alabama in my case. That's perhaps the number one reason it's on my list of essential apps for the iPhone. In fact, it's so good at what it does, it's even possible to spot a tornado using it. Unlike many radar apps which show you artificially "smoothed" radar images, RadarScope shows the data as the radar sees it.

RadarScope has some additional products that it has added for radars that support them, which my local radar does. The best is the Super Resolution Reflectivity product, which shows reflectivity at a much higher resolution. This gives you the ability to see a storms at greater detail. The images on the right are from the same radar, only one minute later than the first. The second one is much more detailed, giving you the ability to see a more accurate view of the precipitation around you.

Another product that RadarScope has added is something called Hydrometer Classification. This particular product shows the type of precipitation instead of the intensity. If you touch each of the colors on scale at the bottom of the screen, you'll see that they represent different types of precipitationIn the example to the left, the light green is light-to-moderate rain, the dark green is heavy rain, the yellow is an area with big drops, and the red is hail and rain mixed.

One other thing: You'll notice on these products and many others in RadarScope are different levels of tilt, from 1 to 4. Tilt 1 is around 0.5 degrees while Tilt 4 is around 3.35 degrees. Since you are most likely on the ground when you look at Radarscope, you'll want to typically use Tilt 1.