Windy guide to weather
Windy guide to weather
Before you go
Always check radar before heading out
⏱ 1 min read

The forecast was right last night. But weather moves — radar shows what's happening right now, not hours ago.

Tap Play. Watch the last 2 hours. A long line moving fast = cold front — wind shifts, stronger gusts, thunderstorms. Scattered bubbles = isolated storms — track them individually.

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Storm cell growing in the animation = intensifying. Shrinking = dying out. That's your go/no-go.

Radar covers ~100–200 km with a 2-hour nowcast. Beyond that — trust the model.

🌀Open radar in Windy
Windy guide to weather
Radar
What radar is actually showing you
⏱ 1 min read

Radar doesn't predict — it observes. Every sweep, it picks up what's in the air right now: rain, snow, hail. The colors show intensity — light blue is drizzle, deep red is heavy rain or hail.

The 2-hour nowcast extends this forward — it takes the current movement and projects it. Useful, but not a forecast. If a storm slows down or changes direction, the nowcast won't know until the next sweep.

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Grey areas = no radar coverage. Mountains and distance create blind spots. If you're in the grey, check a nearby station instead.

For anything beyond 2 hours — storms that haven't formed yet, tomorrow's rain — radar won't help. Switch to the model forecast.

🌀Open radar in Windy
Windy guide to weather
Before you go
Two more checks worth making
⏱ 1 min read

Check live wind

A weather station near your spot shows real wind right now — not a forecast. Is it matching what was predicted? Is it rising or dropping? Gusts matter more than average speed.

The nearest stations are right below the forecast table — no need to hunt for them on the map.

📡Check live wind

Check the freshest forecast

Models update every ~6 hours. The one you checked this morning may already be outdated. Look at when it was last updated — shown under the forecast table.

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When timing matters, switch from 3-hour to 1-hour steps. Fresh data + finer resolution = much easier planning.

🕐Check forecast update time