Where Is It Raining Right Now?
Live rain radar for anywhere on Earth. Move the map, or press the button below to jump straight to your own location and see whether rain is falling near you this minute.
The Short Answer
Somewhere on Earth, it is always raining. At any given moment roughly 5–10% of the planet’s surface has precipitation falling on it. The map above shows exactly where that is right now — every active rain band, shower and storm that radar and satellite can currently detect, refreshed continuously.
The permanent wet band you can usually see stretched across the tropics is the Intertropical Convergence Zone, where the trade winds of the two hemispheres collide and force air upwards. It rains there almost every day of the year. It drifts north in the northern summer and south in the northern winter, which is what creates monsoon seasons.
How to Read the Map
Colour on a rain radar map means intensity, not certainty:
- Light blue and green — drizzle to light rain. You will notice it, but an umbrella handles it.
- Yellow and orange — moderate to heavy rain. Standing water on roads, reduced visibility.
- Red and purple — very heavy rain or hail, often with thunderstorms. This is the range where flash flooding becomes possible.
Watch the animation rather than the still frame. A single snapshot tells you where rain is; the loop tells you where it is going, which is almost always the more useful question. If a band is moving towards you at 40 km/h and sits 20 km away, you have about half an hour.
For a full breakdown of the colour scale, see our guide to rain radar colours.
It Says Rain, But It Is Dry Where I Am
This is the single most common complaint about every rain radar in the world, and there are three legitimate reasons for it.
Virga. Radar detects raindrops in the air, not water hitting the ground. In dry conditions rain frequently evaporates before it lands. The radar is not wrong — it really is raining a kilometre above your head. It is simply not reaching you.
The beam is looking over your head. Radar beams travel in straight lines while the Earth curves away beneath them. At 150 km from the station the beam may already be scanning at 3,000 metres. Low cloud and light drizzle underneath it are invisible. This is why coastal and mountain areas often show gaps.
Resolution. A radar pixel can cover a square kilometre or more. Summer showers are frequently smaller than that. One street gets soaked while the next stays dry, and the map can only show an average.
We cover this in more depth in how accurate is rain radar.
Rain Is Not Evenly Distributed
If you zoom out on the map, patterns appear that hold true most days of the year.
- The tropics are almost permanently active. The Congo Basin, the Amazon and the islands of Indonesia record thunderstorms on the majority of days.
- Rain has a daily rhythm. Over land, convective showers peak in mid to late afternoon once the sun has heated the surface. Over oceans the peak is often in the early hours instead.
- Deserts show almost nothing. The Sahara, the Atacama and central Australia can sit rain-free on radar for weeks.
- Mid-latitude rain arrives in bands. In Europe and North America, rain usually comes as organised frontal bands sweeping west to east, rather than isolated blobs.
If you are checking because of travel plans, our destination weather guides cover the wet and dry seasons for 19 major destinations.
Checking Rain for a Specific Reason
What counts as “is it raining” depends entirely on why you are asking.
- Leaving in five minutes. Zoom in tight and watch the loop. Only the cell within about 20 km of you matters.
- An outdoor event this afternoon. Zoom out to a few hundred kilometres upwind and check what is heading your way, then confirm against the 7-day forecast.
- Driving a long route. Check the whole corridor rather than either end. Rain sitting over the middle of a route is easy to miss.
- A storm is possible. Radar shows rain, but not electrical activity. Pair it with the live lightning map, which shows strikes as they are detected.
Rain Radar Is Not a Warning Service
This map shows what is happening now. It does not issue warnings, and it cannot tell you whether a river is about to rise. For flooding, severe storms or any decision affecting safety, your national meteorological service is the authority — the Met Office, Météo-France, the National Weather Service, or your local equivalent. Their warnings take precedence over anything shown here.
What radar is genuinely good at is the short window forecasts handle poorly: the next 30 to 90 minutes. That is the gap it fills.
Other Live Maps
Rain is one layer of the picture. RainyMap also provides the live wind map for the flow steering those systems, the temperature map, the air quality map, and the full real-time rain map with additional controls. Radar coverage for individual cities is indexed on the radar directory.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is it raining right now?
The live map on this page shows every area with active precipitation detected by radar and satellite worldwide, updated continuously. At any given moment roughly 5 to 10 percent of the Earth’s surface has rain falling on it, concentrated most heavily along the Intertropical Convergence Zone near the equator.
How do I check if it is raining at my exact location?
Press the “Use My Location” button above. Your browser will ask permission to share your position, and the map will centre on you at street level. The coordinates are used in your browser only and are not stored on our servers.
Is it raining somewhere on Earth all the time?
Yes. Precipitation is falling continuously somewhere on the planet. The Intertropical Convergence Zone produces near-daily thunderstorms across the tropics, and mid-latitude frontal systems are almost always active in at least one hemisphere.
Why does the radar show rain when it is dry outside?
Usually one of three reasons: the rain is evaporating before it reaches the ground (virga), the radar beam is scanning above your local weather because of the Earth’s curvature at long range, or the shower is smaller than a single radar pixel. The radar is detecting real water in the air even when none reaches you.
How often does the rain map update?
Radar data refreshes every few minutes, depending on the scanning cycle of the nearest national radar network. Most networks complete a full volume scan every 5 to 10 minutes.
Does this work outside the United States?
Yes. Coverage is global, combining national radar networks across Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas with satellite-derived precipitation estimates in regions where ground radar does not reach, such as open ocean and parts of Africa.
Can rain radar tell me if a storm is coming?
It can show an approaching band of rain and how fast it is moving, which is reliable for the next 30 to 90 minutes. It does not detect lightning — for that use our live lightning map — and it does not issue severe weather warnings. Always follow your national weather service for those.
Is this rain radar free?
Yes. RainyMap is free to use, requires no account or app download, and works in any browser.