European Weather Radar Now Available

Written by Steve Gifford

Data

September 10, 2026

We’re adding a new data set to our mix: a European radar composite.

If you’re building weather applications for Europe, finding reliable European weather radar data isn’t always as straightforward as it is in the United States. That’s why we’ve started testing the EuMetNet OPERA radar composite to evaluate its quality and reliability.

European Weather Radar

EU countries (and the UK) provide versions of their radar data for use. These are in standard formats we understand and are easy enough for us to parse.

We’ve begun ingesting the composite radar mosaic on a test basis. The reliability is good! The quality? Well, the reliability is good!

Data Quality

In the United States, we’re a bit spoiled with the multi-resolution multi-radar (MRMS) mosaic. The quality-control (QC) version of the composite is pretty good, and most sites and apps display it unedited.

European weather radar is more complex than what we’re accustomed to in the United States. These are radar systems deployed and maintained by different countries and purchased from the legion of radar companies out there. Seriously, check them out at a trade show. There’s way more than you think.

Pulling all of those systems into a single radar composite for Europe is an impressive achievement. Hats off to the folks who did that work. That said, we’ve noticed some quality-control issues that are worth addressing.

Fortunately, the individual radar feeds are also available, which means we could build our own composite with additional front-end quality control if customer demand justifies the effort. We’ll see what our customers say to that.

European Weather Radar Availability

We’re still evaluating the composite, but early testing shows it’s reliable enough to start exploring. If you’re interested in European weather radar for visualization or analysis, let us know, and we’ll be happy to provide access while we continue testing.

Today, the composite is available for visualization and data access through WCS, and we’ll add advected (future radar) versions if there’s enough interest.