xradar
Xradar includes all the tools to get your weather radar into the xarray data model.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. Xradar is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and fills a clear role in the open-radar-science ecosystem. Low install friction and permissive MIT licensing make it a straightforward choice for any weather radar data workflow. The beta status reflects pending standard finalization, not instability in implemented readers; if your format is listed as supported, the code is production-ready. Start here if you work with NEXRAD, CfRadial, or ODIM_H5 data.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python >= 3.11.
- HDF5 system libraries needed for h5py and netCDF4 dependencies.
- Low install friction with a pure-wheel distribution.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions. Documentation is separately licensed CC-BY-SA-4.0.
last release 2026-04-21 (115 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-01 · 139 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 106,307 downloads/mo, #12,659 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install xradar
import xradar
dt = xradar.open_nexradlevel2_datatree('radar_file.gz')
dt.to_netcdf('output.nc')- Whether all import-only formats (DataMet, Furuno, Gamic, HPL, Iris, MRR, Rainbow, UF) are production-ready or remain experimental.
- Performance characteristics when streaming NEXRAD chunks from S3 or processing large radar volumes.
- API stability guarantees given the stated beta status pending CfRadial2/FM301 standard finalization.
What it is and what it does
Xradar is a community radar data toolkit built on xarray that standardizes the import and export of weather radar observations. It reads polar radar data from multiple formats—including NEXRAD Level 2, CfRadial1/2, ODIM_H5, and several proprietary formats—and represents them in a common xarray DataTree model aligned with the WMO FM301/CfRadial2 standard. This allows downstream processing pipelines to work with a single, predictable data structure regardless of source format.
The package is designed for the open-radar-science community and emphasizes interoperability with existing radar processing software. It supports georeferencing, angle reindexing, and format transformation, with particular strength in reading NEXRAD data (including streaming from S3 chunk buckets) and exporting to standardized formats. The codebase is actively maintained and has been ported from the wradlib library; it is considered stable for implemented readers and writers, though it remains in beta pending full standard adoption.
Use it for
- Ingest NEXRAD Level 2 data from local files or S3 buckets for weather research and operational analysis.
- Convert between radar formats (e.g., proprietary Furuno or Gamic to CfRadial2) for data sharing and archival.
- Build xarray-based radar processing pipelines that leverage dask for distributed computation and existing xarray ecosystem tools.
- Georeference polar radar data and perform angle reindexing for gridded analysis or visualization.
- Standardize radar metadata and coordinates across multiple instruments and formats for multi-radar studies.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
Xradar is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and fills a clear role in the open-radar-science ecosystem. Low install friction and permissive MIT licensing make it a straightforward choice for any weather radar data workflow. The beta status reflects pending standard finalization, not instability in implemented readers; if your format is listed as supported, the code is production-ready. Start here if you work with NEXRAD, CfRadial, or ODIM_H5 data.
Install
xradar on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction with a pure-wheel distribution. Active maintenance with recent releases; last commit 2026-08-01. Requires 11 runtime dependencies including xarray, h5py, and netCDF4, which are standard scientific Python packages.
Requires Python >= 3.11. HDF5 system libraries needed for h5py and netCDF4 dependencies.
License in practice
MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions. Documentation is separately licensed CC-BY-SA-4.0.
Quickstart
pip install xradar
import xradar
dt = xradar.open_nexradlevel2_datatree('radar_file.gz')
dt.to_netcdf('output.nc')Verify before relying
- Whether all import-only formats (DataMet, Furuno, Gamic, HPL, Iris, MRR, Rainbow, UF) are production-ready or remain experimental.
- Performance characteristics when streaming NEXRAD chunks from S3 or processing large radar volumes.
- API stability guarantees given the stated beta status pending CfRadial2/FM301 standard finalization.
Package facts
| License | MIT permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.11 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 11 packagescmweatherdaskh5netcdfh5pylat_lon_parsernetCDF4numpypyprojscipyxarrayxmltodict |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 115 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 106,307 / month, #12,659 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 4 - BetaIntended Audience :: DevelopersIntended Audience :: EducationIntended Audience :: Science/ResearchNatural Language :: EnglishOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Topic :: Scientific/EngineeringTopic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Atmospheric Science |
Evidence: xradar-0.12.0-py3-none-any.whl
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