New Radar 8-Colour Palette

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On September 19, 2013, Canada.ca/weather introduced new colours to its radar images to improve the accessibility of its content to a greater number of Canadians.  Many individuals with visual impairments, such as colour-blindness or low-visibility had difficulty interpreting radar information correctly with the older 14-colour “rainbow” palette.

The colours of the underlying maps of Canada, the provinces, and the bodies of water were muted to increase the contrast, and draw more attention to the radar echoes.  Green and violet have the best colour contrast and so are the colour combinations being used for the radar echoes in the new 8-colour palette.

The older 14-colour scale and background images will remain available for those users who prefer them. This can be selected by changing the Intensity Scale located in the animation controls below the images.  This preference may be selected only while the animation is stopped. Once your preference is selected, it will remain as a persistent cookie so that your preferred choice is selected for subsequent visits.

Sample of Regional Radar image map with new 8-colour palette on the intensity scale.

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