Real-time weather color graphics in the USA: a decade of innovation

The 1980s saw dramatic changes in the way that real-time weather information is gathered, processed, and broadcast in the United States. While the raw products are initially gathered by the US Government, it is the role of the private sector to develop the value-added products that are seen on-the-air as color graphics of satellite imagery, radar, etc. The paper reviews these trends, and explore the options that are available. In particular, emphasis is placed on preprocessing these datasets, to provide `value-added raw data´, which can then be further processed and analyzed to meet individual users´ needs. Demonstrations and examples are provided using real-time data and imagery based upon operational experience from the US broadcast industry