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Sources & methodology

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Radar source and rights

Radar observations originate from the Israel Meteorological Service (IMS). Eilat radar, where included, is supplied by the Israel Water Authority. IMS and the Israel Water Authority are not parties to this independent publication and bear no responsibility for the information or its use.

The application retrieves the public IMS radar feed and archives original PNG observations. Their reuse is subject to the IMS terms and any specific written permissions. Graphic images are not raw calibrated radar products. Missing files do not establish dry weather.

Intensity, cumulative rainfall, and volume

Original PNG colors are matched to the IMS legend's discrete mm/h values with a small RGB tolerance. Transparent pixels and colors outside that tolerance currently contribute zero; this can conflate no echo and unavailable information. The highest category is represented as 200 mm/h, although the legend's upward arrow indicates that greater values may occur.

Cumulative rainfall adds intensity × 5/60 hours for each unique included scan. Each marker starts at its placement scan and includes available intermediate scans crossed while scrubbing in either direction. A scan is not counted twice. Reversing direction does not subtract rainfall. Missing timestamps are not interpolated, and changing a day or mode resets totals. The from/to values describe included scan timestamps; they are not a guarantee of continuous coverage.

The fixed-five-minute convention is an approximation, not verified interval integration: 13 scans between 10:00 and 11:00 contribute 65 minutes under this convention, despite their 60-minute first-to-last span. A single scan contributes five minutes even when the from/to timestamps are identical.

Area shapes use spherical area estimates and radar-pixel overlap weights. The displayed mean rate and water total cover only the portion inside the radar footprint. Water volume in m³ = rainfall in mm × covered area in m² ÷ 1,000. One dunam is 1,000 m². Circle boundaries are approximated for pixel-overlap calculations. Small shapes retain the underlying radar resolution; they do not provide higher-resolution measurements.

Enhanced view

The optional Enhanced view changes how scans and retained tracks (Spread and Cumulative) are drawn and, while it is on, what map measurements read. It removes isolated single-pixel speckle, smooths the stepped edges of rain areas, and draws each IMS intensity class as a crisp band at twice the image resolution. It cannot add detail the radar did not observe.

Some radar directions are partly or fully blocked, which cuts rain off along straight lines from the radar; these directions were identified statistically from the archived scans. The Enhanced view estimates rain inside them and marks every estimate with diagonal hatching. For a single scan, it follows the rain's measured motion to the scans up to 30 minutes before and after, and fills a blocked spot when the rain was seen there both before and after; narrow gaps (up to about 6°) with rain on both sides are also bridged by interpolation. For retained tracks, which vary much more smoothly, totals are interpolated across blocked directions up to about 22° wide. In tests that hid unblocked directions in archived scans, single-scan filling recovered roughly 70% of hidden rain in 3° gaps and 20–30% in 10° gaps during widespread rain, with about 7–12% of filled pixels rain-free in reality; it fills much less, and less reliably, in fast-changing showers. For a day's totals, interpolation across 6–14° gaps typically came within 0.2–0.6 mm of totals averaging about 1 mm. With the Enhanced view off, intensity readings and measurements use the original IMS pixels. With it on, measurement intensity and totals use the enhanced scans, including estimated rain, so they may be less accurate; the app shows a notice when it is switched on, and measurement cards say they include Enhanced view estimates. Retained-track totals and the cumulative colour scale are always calculated from the original pixels.

Volume represents estimated precipitation over the covered area. It is not measured runoff, reservoir inflow, water retained on land, or a hydrological forecast. Cumulative overlay colors use the application's separate, dynamically scaled palette, not the original IMS intensity legend.

Calendar and live updates

Rain-day highlighting is an image heuristic: at least two saved scans must meet the app's regional colored-pixel threshold at or above 1.2 mm/h. It is not a gauge-based daily rainfall total or proof that a particular location received rain.

The collector normally checks every five minutes; a visible browser checks status every 2.5 minutes. Availability depends on IMS and successful collection. The current freshness indicator uses upstream feed information and a 25-minute threshold; it is not a delivery guarantee. Inspect the displayed observation date and time. Historical dates use Asia/Jerusalem.

Basemaps and software

Attribution for the selected basemap remains on the map. A source credit is not a substitute for provider permission or compliance with its service terms. These notices do not grant rights beyond the respective licenses.

Leaflet license

BSD 2-Clause License

Copyright (c) 2010-2023, Volodymyr Agafonkin
Copyright (c) 2010-2011, CloudMade
All rights reserved.

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Corrections

Report suspected incorrect, stale, or misleading data to [email protected], including the observation date/time and affected location.