While this is not a usual scenario to experience, there could be a few reasons why you might not be seeing Radar image even though it is raining outside:
- Are you experiencing very light rain or drizzle? If so, then this is likely because light rain or drizzle has such a small raindrop size that it is very hard for the radar equipment to detect it. For that reason, very light precipitation does not show up on the radar imagery very well.
- Are you experiencing heavy rain/snow or a thunderstorm that has started very suddenly? If that is the case, then it is possible that the radar simply didn’t have enough time to detect the event. Thunderstorms (or short heavy bursts of rain) can develop very suddenly – sometimes in a matter of just a few minutes. Radar systems scan the sky for any precipitation every 10 minutes, and then it takes another few minutes to process the data and make it available as a ready-to-use image on our digital platforms. So if a burst of rain happened to form right over your area, you could experience some lag time before that rain can appear on the Radar imagery map.
- In addition to the above causes, just like any other technology, it is possible that Radars could experience occasional downtime, especially when there is scheduled maintenance. During this time no Radar imagery will be available in the vicinity of the Radar site.