Precipitation map

The precipitation map shows where it's raining or snowing at the moment, with an accuracy down to a building, and how precipitation areas will be moving in the next two hours. You can use this map to find out if it is going to snow today and when it is best to leave the house not to get caught in the rain.

Separate icons on the map show the areas where lightning is registered. This information comes from lightning direction finders.

The precipitation map covers Europe, Asia, North and South America.

Yandex Weather makes a precipitation forecast based on the data received from weather radars and satellites. Data from weather stations is not suitable for this, as it is updated not often enough and is not always accurate: stations cover the areas unevenly and are located at a great distance from each other.

Stage 1. Getting data from weather radars and satellites

Weather radars make a 3D image of the atmosphere within a radius of 200-250 km every 10 minutes.

A satellite registers the position of clouds over Europe and part of Asia every 15 minutes.

Stage 2. Image processing

Radar and satellite images are fed into two convolutional neural networks. Both networks predict precipitation independently:

1. They analyze a sequence of images and integrate the results with the weather forecast calculated using the Meteum technology.
2. They forecast where precipitation areas will move and how their shape will change.
3. They create precipitation maps for the next two hours.

Stage 3. Making the final forecast

The service combines the maps received from the neural networks and displays the final forecast on the weather map layer.

The data on the map is updated every 10 minutes (as soon as the service receives information from the radars).

In the desktop version

There are two ways to view the precipitation map:

• In the Weather map section of the service homepage , click  Precipitation.

• Click Weather map at the top of any page. In the top left corner of the map, click

   Precipitation.

On the precipitation map, you can:

• View the forecast for the near future: move the slider on the time scale at the bottom of the page or select the time.
• Specify the type of cloud cover and precipitation intensity for 2 hours before and after the current moment. To do this, select the time on the time scale.
• See the places where lightning is registered. To do this, enable the Lightning option in the bottom left corner of the page.

Places where the lightning is registered are marked on the map with the icons . Information about the lightning comes not from the radars or satellite, but from lightning direction finders.

We don't forecast lightning, but we show where it has been registered using lightning detectors. If there aren't enough lightning detectors in your area, thunderstorms may not appear on the map.

To switch to a different weather map, select it in the top left corner of the map.

In the mobile version

To open the precipitation map:

1. On the homepage, tap the map.

2. Tap  → Precipitation on the right of the map.

On the precipitation map, you can:

• View the forecast for the near future: move the slider on the time scale at the bottom of the page or select the time.
• View a summary forecast for a specific location. To do this, tap the location on the map.
• Open the forecast page for a specific location. To do this, tap the location on the map and then the summary forecast.
• View areas where users have confirmed precipitation. To do this, tap  in the top right corner of the map.

To switch to other weather maps, tap  on the right side of the map.

In the Yandex Weather app

To open the precipitation map, tap the map on the homepage.

On the precipitation map, you can:

• View the forecast for the near future: move the slider on the time scale at the bottom of the page or select the time.
• View areas where users have confirmed precipitation. To do this, tap  in the top right corner of the map.

The precipitation map is based on the data received from weather radars which measure the strength of the radio signal. It depends on how many water drops are contained in the air. Sometimes the radar may take for precipitation low clouds or drops that do not reach the surface of the Earth.

A large precipitation front may significantly weaken the weather radar's signal strength. The signal is also occasionally distorted by radio frequency interference. In these cases, the precipitation map may be incorrect: it may show areas of precipitation where there is actually no precipitation.

For regions with no weather radars, the forecast is based on satellite data. The satellite may fail to register short-term precipitation of up to 7 minutes.

Possible cause:

• There are no weather radars in your region.
• Your region is outside the satellite's image-capturing zone.
• There was a technical problem with the satellite's receiving station or with data receipt and processing. In this case, you will see “The data is temporarily unavailable” message.

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