Downloading RIDGE Radar Images

Unlike the old radar display, "right clicking" on a RIDGE radar image will only allow you to copy or "save to the clipboard" the very top layer, based upon the selected overlays. In the toggle overlay section, just below the radar image, the right most selected overlay is the top image.

In the example above, the "Legend" graphic is the top image selected. Trying to save the RIDGE image will only save the legend graphic. In the toggle overlay example (below), the "Cities" overlay is the top graphic and the only one that can be saved by selecting the image.

A typical RIDGE radar view is comprised of seven individual images layered on top of each other through the use of style sheets. Except for the topography, these images are a "gif" format with a white background that has been made transparent. (The topography image is a compressed jpeg image.) To reproduce the RIDGE radar image, each layer needs to be captured and stacked on top of each other.

But it is not as bad as it sounds as fortunately, for any one radar site, once a copy of the overlays are obtained, only the radar image and the "Warnings" and "Legend" overlays change. The "Highways", "Topo", "Counties", "Rivers", and "Cities" overlays only needed to be downloaded once.

At present, there are three ways to obtain images from the RIDGE radar.

1. Grunt method. Use the overlay toggles and "right click" on each layer to save it to the local computer. Remember, this only saves the right-most image as indicated by the toggle bar.
2. Screen Capture. Use the toggle overlays to configure the image then use a screen capture utility to save the image to the local computer. This saves the steps needed to stack the images onto of each other in a graphics program and is also how all the RIDGE images used in this section were obtained.
3. Download the individual files. All RIDGE radar images are downloadable and all that is needed is the URL. The table (below) provides the paths to each image. For the radar image, legend, or warnings images, the most recent graphic available ends in "_0.gif". For example, the most recent radar image for the Fort Worth Doppler radar is...
   http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/N0R/FWS_N0R_0.gif
   To view and retrieve the 20 most recent radar images then the URL is...
   http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/N0R/FWS/
   The filename format for these recent images is: xxx_YYYYMMDD_hhmm_N??.gif, where
   xxx - Radar site ID
   YYYY - year
   MM - month
   DD - day
   hh - hour
   mm - minutes
   N?? - image ID (N0R, N0S, etc.)

Ridge Graphics

The paths to the RIDGE graphics/images are...

• Base Reflectivity (out to 124 nm)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/N0R/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/N0R/xxx_NCR_0.gif (for current image)
• 
  Storm Relative Motion
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/N0S/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/N0S/xxx_NCR_0.gif (for current image)
• 
  One-Hour Precipitation
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/N1P/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/N1P/xxx_NCR_0.gif (for current image)
• 
  Composite Reflectivity
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/NCR/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/NCR/xxx_NCR_0.gif (for current image)
• 
  Storm Total Precipitation
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/NTP/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/NTP/xxx_NTP_0.gif (for current image)
• 
  Base Reflectivity (out to 248 nmi)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/N0Z/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/RadarImg/N0Z/xxx_NCR_0.gif (for current image)

Ridge Overlays

The paths to the RIDGE overlays are...

• Topography
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Overlays/Topo/Short/xxx_Topo_Short.jpg
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Overlays/Topo/Long/xxx_Topo_Long.jpg
• 
  County boundaries
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Overlays/County/Short/xxx_County_Short.gif
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Overlays/County/Long/xxx_County_Long.gif
• 
  Rivers
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Overlays/Rivers/Short/xxx_Rivers_Short.gif
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Overlays/Rivers/Long/xxx_Rivers_Long.gif
• 
  Highways
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Overlays/Highways/Short/xxx_Highways_Short.gif
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Overlays/Highways/Long/xxx_Highways_Long.gif
• 
  Cities
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Overlays/Cities/Short/xxx_City_Short.gif
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Overlays/Cities/Long/xxx_City_Long.gif

Warnings Overlay

The paths to the NWS severe weather warnings overlays are...

• Short range
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Warnings/Short/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Warnings/Short/xxx_Warnings_0.gif (for current image)
• 
  Long range
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Warnings/Long/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Warnings/Long/xxx_Warnings_0.gif (for current image)

Legend Overlays

The paths to the RIDGE legend overlays are...

• Base Reflectivity (out to 124 nm)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/N0R/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/N0R/xxx_N0R_Legend_0.gif (for current image)
• 
  Composite Reflectivity
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/NCR/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/NCR/xxx_NCR_Legend_0.gif (for current image)
• 
  Storm Relative Motion
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/N0S/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/N0S/xxx_N0S_Legend_0.gif (for current image)
• 
  Base Velocity
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/N0V/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/N0V/xxx_N0V_Legend_0.gif (for current image)
• 
  One-Hour Precipitation
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/N1P/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/N1P/xxx_N1P_Legend_0.gif (for current image)
• 
  Storm Total Precipitation
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/NTP/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/NTP/xxx_NTP_Legend_0.gif (for current image)
• 
  Base Reflectivity (out to 248 nm)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/N0Z/xxx (directory for past images)
  • https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Legend/N0Z/xxx_N0Z_Legend_0.gif (for current image)