StormPredator - Details and Features

StormPredator Details (Note: this page has many graphics- please be patient while downloading)

StormPredator is packed with features to make monitoring, tracking, and alerting for severe weather easy and intuitive. You'll find that SP can be used as your primary Internet weather information source as it contains everything you need, from radar and satellite imagery, to forecasts and severe weather bulletins.

PLUS, with a wide variety of future add-on features, you can have SP send weather alerts and pictures to your email, pager, Palm Pilot^®, and Picture Cell Phone. Plus, design your own skins and buttons! We have plans for adding Lightning Strike displays, and support for mobile operation with portable Global Positioning Systems.

Best of all, the radar images and forecasts are always 100% FREE- There is no subscription service required to continue to use the program or the data. A one-time purchase of the software will enable you to own your own personal severe weather alerting center!

Below are pictures and details of some of the most important features of StormPredator:

		EXCLUSIVE Storm Tracker Tool! This tool allows you to mark storm cells in the loop history with key frame points, and then have a automated forecast for speed, distance covered, direction, and Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) of the storm! A projected path is displayed along with a box outlining possible variance of the storm as it advances. No other program has this feature! Tracking can be started from the menu or from the ALT-T hotkey.

		Storm Information! When the Storm Tracker Tool is used, a popup display for speed, distance covered, direction, and instructions for getting Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) of the storm!

		Personal Storm Alerts! You can draw your own Personal Scan Zone on the radar map and assign an alarm to popup onscreen with an optional audio alert (WAV file is selectable and repeatable) anytime a storm of a certain strength gets into the Scan Zone. Sensitivity and threshold levels are user selectable. Add-on modules will enable sending email, pager, and cell phone alerts, along with the ability to send radar pictures to picture/web enabled cell phones.

		Storm Cell Analyzer! Right Click and the Analyzer Tool is activated, a popup display showing Storm Cell Intensity by VIP color level, echo strength in decibels, and a description of the type of precipitation that may be occurring underneath the storm cell.

		Distance Measuring Tool! Left Click and the Distance Tool is activated, which allows you to stretch a line from point to point on the radar map. Distance is displayed in whatever direction you stretch, and can be shown in statute miles or nautical miles.

		Selectable Flashing Levels! To make the high intensity areas storm cells more visible, you can select any of the colors on the radar display to be flashing. Flashing can be turned on/off instantly using the ALT-F hotkey.

		Dynamic Looping Control with automatic history fetching StormPredator automatically fetches the radar loop history, enabling instant storm motion analysis and tracking. You can control animation of the radar storm cells including speed and single step mode. Looping can be started from the menu or turned on/off instantly using the ALT-L hotkey.

		Range Ring overlay emulates a traditional radar scope StormPredator speaks to the lineage of radar by offering features like this range ring overlay which have been featured on radar since its inception. Now the analog and the digital world merge in one great program! Range rings can be turned on/off instantly using the ALT-R hotkey.

		Ground clutter removal in clear air mode While the NWS NEXRAD radar system is the most sensitive and sophisticated ever designed, it has one annoying feature- Clear Air Mode. StormPredator automatically detects when Clear Air Mode of the radar is active and will remove it's low level echoes from the display- ensuring that you aren't confused by false signals from ground clutter! At left, Dallas, TX radar showing SP's Ground clutter removal feature activated
		At left, Dallas, TX radar showing the very same image but WITHOUT SP's Ground clutter removal feature activated Is this a storm or is it simply dust and temperature inversions? Our ground clutter removal feature ensures you never get fooled by images that look threatening- but aren't. Of course, if you want to use the super sensitive clear air mode to look for dust storm gust fronts, temperature inversions, and other atmospheric effects, you can easily enable the full Clear Air Mode display.

		Image Processing for better readability The standard NWS NEXRAD presentation is designed for meteorologists, not the layman. Hence its sometime hard to spot storms amid the visual clutter of lower level precipitation. StormPredator automatically processes each image to provide a better visual presentation - ensuring that you can easily spot storms. Image processing can be turned on/off and custom colors can be set to your preference. At left, Miami, FL radar showing SP's image processing feature activated At left, Miami, FL radar showing the very same image but WITHOUT SP's image processing feature activated Note that some of the storm cells get "lost" in the blue lower level precipitation echoes. But in the SP processed image above, they stand out clearly, and it is easier to spot the heavier areas of precipitation.

		Automated internet communications StormPredator automatically checks for the newest radar images available, then automatically updates!

		Controllable Radar Beam Speaking to the lineage of early analog radar, StormPredator provides a rotational radar sweep beam to let you know that the program is active. You can turn the beam on/off using the ALT-B hotkey, and you can set it to rotate continuously or only when updating radar images. Beam color, width, and rotational speed are all controllable.


		Detailed Current Weather and forecasts for over 60,000 US Cities and many other cities worldwide StormPredator includes our complete intelligent weather forecast engine that allows you to get current weather and forecasts for virtually anywhere in the world! Why bother browsing online weather sites and having to deal with advertising and popups when you can get detailed forecast information with a single mouse click? SP will automatically provide a forecast for the radar area you are viewing, and you can enter a zip code, city-state, or airport identifier to get any other forecast and current weather. Canadian and International weather are also provided! Forecasts can be opened with F4 hotkey or from the main dialog menu button.

		National and Regional Satellite/Radar Imagery Press the F5 key to see this in SP. The download only version provides just the national NEXRAD radar map in SP, but the CD ROM version of StormPredator provides a permanent connection to our stunning satellite and radar imagery suite. In addition to national views, Regional Zooms are also provided and both national and regional views can be looped. The National NEXRAD radar map is always available from the StormPredator Website - see it here LIVE

		Dynamic Zoom and Pan Control You can zoom and pan anywhere on the StormPredator image to look at details. Plus- you can loop while zoomed and use the distance measuring tool too!

		Interactive Live Watches and Warnings Map You get instant access to an interactive map of watches and warnings for every state, plus full text of any weather bulletins! When you active the Warning Map from the main menu button or the ALT-W hotkey you immediate are shown the US state the radar is in with all current watches and warnings color coded on the map. Plus- you can overlay satellite and radar imagery onto the warning map with the click of a button!

		Configurable State of the Art User Interface Not only can you customize StormPredator with Skins and Buttons, but you can also make it as menu rich or sparse as you wish. Plus SP's button interface can be collapsed to give only the live radar scope!