NOAA radar and gauge estimate (MRMS), not a rain gauge reading.
Where is the field?
Map: last 7 days around the spot
Map: USGS The National Map
0.010.100.250.5011.5234+ inno data
Each square is about 2.8 miles north to south and 2 miles across. Tap the map to read any square.
Radar, lightning and hail on one clock for the last 24 or 48 hours, with the rain total. Estimates are labeled.
Checked against 1,175 NOAA co-op gauges, October 1 to 13, 2026: radar and gauge were a median 0.13 in apart on wet days. More in Sources and terms at the bottom.
Questions
Where does this rain number come from?
From NOAA’s Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor system (MRMS), which blends the national radar network with rain gauges that report every hour. This page uses its Pass 2 multi-sensor totals, the gauge-corrected run, averaged into squares about 2.8 miles by 2 miles. It is an estimate for the square your field sits in, not a reading from a gauge.
How close is the radar estimate to a rain gauge?
Checked against 1,175 NOAA co-op gauges in 47 states from October 1 to 13, 2026, radar and gauge were a median 0.13 inch apart on days with a tenth of an inch or more. On days a gauge caught half an inch or more, the median miss was 0.21 inch (20%), and radar read about 9% under the gauge. Over the 13 days added up, the median gap was 0.20 inch (13%).
Why does my rain gauge read different from the radar?
A gauge catches rain in a few square inches; the radar number is an average over a square of about six square miles. Radar sees rain above the ground, sometimes a mile up or more far from the radar, and wind, evaporation and hail all change what reaches the field. Gauges miss rain too, in wind and when they are read late. The two usually land close; on a heavy day expect a few tenths either way.
How often does it update?
About four times a day. NOAA posts its gauge-corrected totals about an hour after each hour ends, and the page takes a new total about every six hours. The page shows the newest hour in your time zone and says so if the data is more than 9 hours old.
Does it count snow?
It counts melted water, so snow shows up as its water content. Radar is weaker with snow than with rain, so treat winter numbers loosely.
Can I check a field instead of my ZIP?
Yes. Open a field or a point on Field Scout and follow its rain link, or tap anywhere on the map here to read that square. The page covers the lower 48 states. NOAA runs Alaska and Hawaii as separate radar rain grids, and this page does not read them yet.
Source. NOAA’s Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor system (MRMS), Pass 2 multi-sensor totals: every NWS radar blended with rain gauges that report each hour, the run that waits about an hour for more gauges. NOAA’s grid is averaged into squares about 2.8 miles north to south and 2 miles across, rounded to the hundredth of an inch. Gauge comparison: NOAA co-op and CoCoRaHS daily reports. Map: USGS The National Map (map services and data from the U.S. Geological Survey, National Geospatial Program); state lines from Natural Earth.
Windows. All of them end at the newest hour NOAA has posted. This month runs from midnight Central on the 1st. If any piece of a window is missing, that window is left off rather than guessed.
How close radar comes to a gauge.
I checked the estimate against 1,175 NOAA co-op rain gauges in 47 states, every morning report from October 1 to 13, 2026 (14,476 gauge-days), using the same squares this page shows.
On days with a tenth of an inch or more at the gauge or on radar (2,473 of them), radar and gauge were a median 0.13 in apart. Radar ran a little low: 0.03 in under on average.
On days the gauge caught half an inch or more (1,032), the median miss was 0.21 in, or 20%, and radar read about 9% under the gauge.
Added up over the 13 days, at the 623 gauges that reported every day and caught half an inch or more, the median gap was 0.20 in (13%).
About 1 wet day in 17, radar showed a tenth or more where the gauge caught nothing, and about 1 in 15 the other way.
That is two weeks of fall rain. Summer thunderstorms are harder on radar, and I will run the check again in storm season. Your own gauge can differ from both: a storm can drop an inch on one side of a section and a quarter inch on the other.
Squares left out. A few NOAA squares read rain when none fell. One near Mount Baker, Washington, read half an inch to more than an inch a day on dry days all fall 2026 while every square around it read none, so it shows as no data. A lone reading far above every square around it shows as no data too, in every window, not only the one it was caught in.
The gauge beside it. The county gauges are the stations on the county rain pages. Their days end at the morning reading, so the radar number beside them is NOAA’s 24-hour total ending at 6 am Central standard time (7 am daylight time), added over the same days. Airport stations close their day at midnight and are left out. Gauge reports come in about once a week.