Redesigning Mission-Critical Weather Analytics Application for Meteorology Scientists & Storm Damage Assessment Services | Seamless Hardware Integration for Field-to-Office Workflows
RadarOmega is a powerful, next-generation weather radar application that delivers high-resolution, single-site radar data and advanced tools—far beyond standard weather apps—making it essential for meteorologists, storm chasers, emergency managers, and enthusiasts who need fast, accurate insights into severe weather, hurricanes, and more to stay safe and informed.
At RadarOmega, the client initially approached me to resolve issues with their navigational structure, as they were unsure how to improve the rest of the application. Since they had never previously worked with a UX/UI designer, I proposed conducting a full product audit to identify usability gaps and opportunities for improvement. Through this process, I uncovered deeper issues tied to user personas and workflows. My recommendations gave the client a clearer understanding of their users’ needs, which ultimately led them to expand the project scope from a limited navigation fix to a complete redesign of the application, guided by a user-centered strategy.
At RadarOmega, the client initially approached me to resolve issues with their navigational structure, as they were unsure how to improve the rest of the application. Since they had never previously worked with a UX/UI designer, I proposed conducting a full product audit to identify usability gaps and opportunities for improvement. Through this process, I uncovered deeper issues tied to user personas and workflows. My recommendations gave the client a clearer understanding of their users’ needs, which ultimately led them to expand the project scope from a limited navigation fix to a complete redesign of the application, guided by a user-centered strategy.
Problem
Users of weather apps like RadarOmega often face challenges when viewing NOAA-powered weather maps because the NOAA API provides raw meteorological data filled with specialized symbols, radar icons, and thermal overlays that are not designed for general audiences. This creates cognitive overload when multiple layers overlap, leading to cluttered visuals that make it difficult to identify urgent information such as severe storms. Since most users are unfamiliar with NOAA’s symbol system, they struggle to interpret what the graphics mean without contextual guidance, and the data itself is presented without translation into real-world impact (for example, a cold front symbol versus “expect falling temperatures and possible storms”).
User Persona
The primary user persona is someone motivated by immediate, local weather conditions—such as sudden rainstorms—that impact their work or daily responsibilities. For example, a user may download a specialized weather app like RadarOmega specifically to track the direction of rainfall for their job, where timing and accuracy directly affect safety or performance. However, upon opening the app, they are confronted with raw NOAA data in the form of dense symbols, radar icons, and layered thermal overlays that are difficult to interpret without meteorological training. Instead of receiving quick, actionable insights about rainfall patterns, they face cognitive overload, unfamiliar iconography, and cluttered visuals that obscure the information they need most.
User Journey
I mapped the journey of a technical user who downloaded a radar app to track rainfall direction for his job. Their simple goal—to view precipitation patterns—was hindered by confusion around selecting radar towers, unclear controls, and technical jargon like reflectivity and Dbz. Although he eventually looped the radar and achieved his goal, it required significant trial and error. This revealed key opportunities to simplify onboarding, auto-surface relevant data, and provide contextual guidance. As lead designer, I reframed the challenge from technical accuracy to user translation, making NOAA’s raw data more accessible and actionable for both experts and everyday users.
Competitive Research
RadarScope delivers advanced meteorological data but overwhelms non-experts with complexity, while RadarOmega offers similar depth yet suffers from confusing controls and unclear onboarding. Rain Viewer simplifies the experience with automatic radar and easy animations, meeting immediate needs but lacking professional depth. This gap shows the opportunity to combine NOAA-level accuracy with user-friendly translation, giving users quick, actionable insights without cognitive overload.
App Types & Business Models
RadarOmega, priced at $8.99 with under 1,000 reviews, sits in a vulnerable middle ground—too expensive for hobbyists yet not differentiated enough for meteorologists. With 50% of the segment made up of hobbyists and 35% professionals, the greatest ROI lies in adopting a hybrid model: offering a free entry tier with essential radar animations to attract casual users while monetizing advanced NOAA data overlays, velocity tools, and storm-tracking features through a premium subscription. This shift would expand reach, reduce onboarding friction, and create predictable recurring revenue while still serving power users with depth.
Users Need Precise Insights
Users need a faster, more intuitive way to understand upcoming weather changes and make confident, real-time decisions. They want clear visual indicators that show precipitation timing and direction without requiring expert interpretation. Reliable, proactive alerts are essential—notifications that not only warn of severe weather but also help users prepare before conditions worsen. Users also seek reassurance through location-based tracking and family safety features, allowing them to monitor loved ones during storms. Above all, they need a weather experience that translates complex NOAA data into simple, actionable insights—reducing uncertainty, preventing disruption to daily routines, and promoting peace of mind.
Tornado usability test (pt 1)
During early 2025, when the first tornado in San Francisco struck—an unprecedented event underscoring the growing impact of climate change—I used the experience as a live usability study to evaluate RadarOmega through the lens of a first-time user. With little prior familiarity, I documented each interaction step by step, observing how intuitive (or not) the process felt under real-world pressure. My focus was on understanding how effectively a new user could navigate the interface, interpret storm visuals, and make time-sensitive decisions during an unfolding severe weather event.
Tornado usability test (pt 2)
Through this process, I identified several critical usability gaps. Key storm alerts appeared visually inconsistent, using color-coded outlines that shifted from purple to red without clear explanations. Pop-up notifications lacked immediacy and context, making it difficult to tell whether the tornado had already passed or was still approaching. The experience revealed how cognitive overload, unclear iconography, and fragmented alert design can heighten user anxiety rather than reduce it. By approaching this moment as both a user and a designer, I gained valuable insights into how RadarOmega could better communicate urgency, spatial awareness, and safety information during climate-driven crises.
How Today’s Alerts Leave Users Unprepared
Users relying on government alert systems experience major frustrations rooted in reactivity, inconsistency, and lack of personalization. These systems often issue alerts too late—once severe weather is already unfolding—leaving users with little time to prepare or protect loved ones. The notifications themselves are text-heavy, impersonal, and difficult to contextualize, offering no visual cues about storm movement or severity. Many users also face alert fatigue from frequent, non-critical notifications, causing them to tune out or ignore future warnings. For those with families or outdoor responsibilities, this creates ongoing anxiety and uncertainty, as they lack tools to monitor real-time conditions or confirm safety. Ultimately, while traditional alerts provide essential information, they fail to deliver the clarity, immediacy, and interactivity users need to make informed, confident decisions during fast-changing weather events.
Information Architecture
The core information-architecture challenge was fitting RadarOmega’s vast, tiered feature set—dozens of free vs. premium radar/satellite overlays, velocity tools, dual-pol products, Level 3 data, and an expansive alert catalog from basic warnings to tropical, marine, fire-weather, and trail-integrated notifications—into a single, shallow navigation menu without overwhelming casual users or slowing down meteorologists and storm chasers who demand one-tap access to mission-critical layers during live events.
Prototyping (Part 1)
I redesigned the weather alert flow to create a clearer, more intuitive experience for users tracking severe storms. Previously, alerts were difficult to locate and interpret, forcing users to manually search through cluttered menus during high-stress moments. I introduced a simplified, step-based interaction that begins with a single, easily identifiable red button to access weather alerts. Once selected, the alerts automatically sort by severity based on live NOAA data, allowing users to immediately prioritize the most critical warnings. From there, users can drill down into specific locations—such as tornado warnings—and quickly determine whether the event is radar-indicated and how much time remains before expiration. This reduced cognitive friction, minimized navigation time, and transformed a reactive, data-heavy interface into a guided, proactive tool that empowers users to make faster, more informed safety decisions.
Prototyping (Part 2)
After zooming into the storm (Step 4), a Tornado Emergency banner (purple) appears on the map with critical details—hail size, damage threat, and a live expires in timer—yet it’s easy to miss while the Tornado Warning bottom sheet and the “23” alert list draw focus (Step 5). I redesigned this flow so that when a Tornado Emergency is detected the app (1) auto-pauses animation, (2) snaps to the affected polygon, (3) elevates a sticky purple header with plain-language severity and countdown, and (4) opens a proximity-filtered list derived from the red 23 badge, synced to the selected polygon. I’ve also aligned all color coding with NOAA’s latest official standards and threat-level lexicon (purple = Emergency, red = Warning) and linked interactions—tapping a list item highlights the polygon; tapping the banner reveals the same details in the sheet—so users don’t miss the most severe alert while panning or zooming. This keeps the emergency callout impossible to overlook and reduces time-to-understanding during events like the 2/4/25 outbreak.
Conclusion
The updated alert flow was handed off to the development team for implementation, with initial internal validation conducted by professional meteorologists on the RadarOmega team. Their feedback confirmed that the redesigned hierarchy and visual logic aligned with real-world meteorological priorities—particularly the distinction between Tornado Warnings and Tornado Emergencies. While formal usability testing with end users has not yet been completed, these expert reviews ensured scientific and operational accuracy before rollout. Once development is finalized, the next phase will focus on field testing with both technical and non-technical users to evaluate clarity, speed of interpretation, and emotional response under real conditions. This staged validation approach ensures that the system not only meets meteorological standards but also translates that data into an accessible, high-trust experience for everyday users.
