Canadian Mesonet Portal Update (v2026.05.14): Severe Storm Summaries, Mobile Version, and UI Updates!
This update to the Canadian Mesonet Portal introduces severe storm summaries, which is a a new Pro feature in the Canadian Mesonet Portal designed to make post-event severe weather analysis faster and easier. It also introduces a refreshed mobile version, along with many UI updates!
Severe Storm Summaries
We’re excited to introduce "Severe Storm Summaries", a new Pro feature in the Canadian Mesonet Portal designed to make post-event severe weather analysis faster and easier!
Severe Storm Summaries automatically compile a 24-hour overview of severe weather activity across Canada by combining multiple datasets into a single streamlined report. The system analyzes:
- Lightning activity
- Weather stations reporting severe conditions
- Radar-indicated severe weather signatures
The new summaries are designed to help researchers, forecasters, emergency managers, and weather enthusiasts rapidly identify areas where severe weather developed, evaluate forecast performance, and review the overall evolution of convective events across the country. By bringing together observations, radar data, and forecast outlooks into one centralized interface, Severe Storm Summaries provide a faster and more comprehensive way to review active weather days within the Canadian Mesonet Portal platform.
Pro features require an API key to use. You can request an API key by contacting nmp@uwo.ca. API keys are available at no cost for non-commercial research and educational use. Organizations or individuals seekign to use the API for commerical purposes will require a data licensing agreement with the Northern Mesonet Project.
Additional improvements and bug fixes will continue to roll out as we expand Pro functionality throughout the 2026 severe weather season.
Mobile Version
The Canadian Mesonet Portal is now installable as a Progressive Web App (PWA) on both iOS and Android devices, making it easier to access weather data directly from your home screen while in the field.
Mobile usability has also been significantly improved with:
- Bottom navigation for easier one-handed use
- Swipeable tabs for faster navigation
- Larger touch targets optimized for mobile devices
Additional Updates
- UI Redesign: Added a new sidebar Welcome card, redesigned the timeline scrubber, improved station markers, added accessibility-focused tooltips throughout the application, and introduced persistent layer preferences between sessions.
- Polygon Improvements: Alerts and forecast outlook polygons now render with proper masking, hazard layers are filterable, and Risk Area counts are now calculated more accurately.
- Unified Settings: Added a new centralized settings dialog to streamline configuration and user preferences.
- Filtering Improvements: Rebuilt the filtering interface with improved testing and validation. Quality filtering is now more intuitive and easier to use.
If you have any feedback about this update, please email nmp@uwo.ca!
