Memory-Map Weather Radar is an application to display, live animated National Weather Service Doppler radar images from radars located throughout the United States. Radar is the most effective tool to detect precipitation, especially thunderstorms, and has been used by NWS forecasters since the 1940's. Memory-Map now brings this information, conveniently and efficiently, right to your phone.

If you take part in, or organize, any kind of outdoor activity, it is always worth keeping an eye on the radar. Whether you are planning a picnic or painting your house, a rain squall can spoil your day! The radar gives you an accurate picture of the weather that is heading your way in the next two or three hours.

Memory-Map Weather Radar is fast and efficient. When you update the image, the radar data is downloaded as a compressed overlay, without having to download the whole base image each time. If the skys are clear, the download is only 1 or 2 kbytes; if there is widespread rain, it might be 10 kbytes. The first time you view each radar station, the base map image is downloaded, which is 50 to 100kbytes.

Other mobile sources of the radar images only give you a tiny thumbnail image. This application gives you the highest resolution available, and you can scroll and zoom the image to see all the detail on your mobile device screen.

Animated loops of radar images help you judge the speed and direction of the weather systems. To help optimize the download speed, you can select how many images to use in the loop, and the time interval between frames.

There are no usage fees or subscriptions for using the service (except your mobile carrier's normal data access fees).

Interpreting the radar image does take a little practice. It is best to familiarize yourself with the technology and your local weather patterns using the NWS website http://radar.weather.gov.

New in version 5.4.2: .

• GPS Location shown on the radar image.

• The time of the radar image is displayed as the number of minutes ago. You can estimate, without looking at the clock, how much the storm may have moved since the image was captured.

• The image data is downloaded in a separate thread. You can view the latest images, scroll and zoom, or change settings, while earlier images in the animation are being downloaded.

• Bigger buttons on the toolbar.

New in version 5.2.0: We have added an Auto-Update feature to keep the display continuously up to date with the latest radar images. You can now choose from the full range of radar image types, including short and long range reflectivity, composite reflectivity, velocity and accumulated precipitation. In addition, there is a Storage dialog that allows you to place the cached images on a storage card, and delete unwanted images.

New in version 5.1.3: By popular request, we have added the ability to display selected layers (roads, cities & county/state boundaries) on top of the radar image. This allows you to see your location relative to the storm, even when the radar image is full of precipitation. We also now display NWS warning polygons, to alert you to possible severe weather.