WRAL.com: Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville

The most direct way to find your question is to search for the name you used when you submitted it (first name, last name or both). If you did not include a name, then you can search using keywords from your question. Of course, since many weather-related terms are common to a lot of the questions we receive, this may turn up a number of others in addition to your own.

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Answer: We now have a page (WRAL Weather Alert Center) on our site that consolidates access to all of our Alert products. This includes the free WRAL Weather Alert apps for iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches and Android phones and tablets, as well as the fee-based WeatherCall program that will place a phone call to up to three designated numbers when your chosen address falls within a warning area. You can find all the info, along with links to download the apps or sign up for WeatherCall, at www.wral.com/weather/page/12171988/.
Jun. 12, 2013 | Tags: severe weather, wral.com

Answer: Our standard times to do the main forecast updates to the online 7-day product are between about 4:30 and 6:00 AM and PM. However, it isn't unusual for us to refresh the forecast for the current day of the forecast another couple of times through the day, when any new information such as observations or updated model projections suggest that the existing forecast could be improved on.
Jun. 2, 2013 | Tags: wral.com

Answer: The iControl display was redigned to use HTML5 to increase its applicability and consistency across multiple software and hardware types. Our web staff attempted to maintain all previous functionality while adding a few new twists. We've found scrolling or panning the maps around to be smooth in most instances, and have had no issues with expanding to full screen when we've tested that function. If you'd like to write back with additional particulars regarding problems you're encountering and include information about the kind of computer and operating system you're using, we'll be glad to try and assist with troubleshooting and hopefully getting them resolved.
May. 31, 2013 | Tags: weather radar, wral.com

Answer: The older Flash-based version of iControl was re-coded using HTML5 in order to improve its consistency across multiple computing platforms and operating systems. Our web staff attempted to maintain all the features of the previous version with a couple of new features thrown in, so it really should be able to do all the older version did, including grabbing the map and panning it around, along with being able to zoom in and out, etc. We have a blog post that introduces the new version and describes in a nutshell how to operate it. That post is located at www.wral.com/icontrol-radar-gets-an-update/12390007/. If you find you are still having trouble with it after reading through that reference, please write us back with any specific difficulties you're running into and we'll do our best to help.
May. 20, 2013 | Tags: cool sites, weather radar, wral.com

Answer: The difference in time moonrise on any given day between Emerald Isle and Raleigh is roughly around 6 minutes, with the moon seen to rise first along the coast and then inland a bit later. The time differences you noticed were due to observing the moon on different days. Because the moon orbits the earth in the same direction that earth is rotating, each day we have to turn a little farther east to "catch up" with it, so that each day the moon rises significantly later than the day before. Because of this, moonrise can occur at any time of day or night. You can go to our "Almanac" page to see what time moon rise and set occurs in the Raleigh area for the current day, and there is a link below that to the U.S. Naval Observatory where you can obtain sun and moon rise and set times for any location on any date, in case you'd like to plan ahead for your next trip to the coast!
May. 15, 2013 | Tags: astronomy, cool sites, wral.com

Answer: One easy way is to just click on our "Almanac" link, where you will then see a drop-down date selector marked "Get Historical Data." Enter the date you're interested in, click go and you will see a page detailing that day's weather observations from the Raleigh-Durham airport. In the top section, there is a summary sections that includes the average wind speed for the day along with the highest sustained (2-minute average) and peak gust (instantaneous) speeds. Farther down the page you will find both a graph of wind speed and gusts, and then an hour-by-hour text listing that includes wind speeds and directions along with gust levels. Near the upper right hand portion of the page there is also a box where you can select a different location using an airport identifier (for example, KFAY for Fayetteville, KRWI for Rocky Mt-Wilson, KBUY for Burlington, etc). You can also change to a weekly or monthly listing for a quick one-page review of winds for many days at once.
May. 12, 2013 | Tags: cool sites, past weather, winds, wral.com

Answer: The company that operates WeatherCall provided this information and suggestion about the number that will appear in Caller ID - "All alerts come from phone number (866)-479-9906. In most cases, this number will appear on the Caller ID. In rare cases "Out of Area" or another message may appear. The best way to determine how the Caller ID will display on your phone is to send yourself a test phone call using that option in your account. You should store this incoming number and name it WeatherCall so that you know it is a weather alert from our service."
May. 11, 2013 | Tags: severe weather, wral.com

Answer: Once you install the app and establish a primary location, it does not have to be open and running in order to receive alerts. The alerts sounded by the app are triggered by "storm-based" warnings so that the locations covered are defined by polygons specific to the possible impact area of the storm, rather than the older method (still in use for weather radios) of warning by county. This is intended to reduce the number of false alarms when, for instance, a storm is expected to impact a small part of a county.
May. 7, 2013 | Tags: severe weather, wral.com

Answer: There are a couple of places to find it. First, on the large 7-day forecast on our main weather page, the sunrise for the first day is shown in the text area below the graphic. By clicking the gray arrow on the right side of that text area, you can step to the forecast for tonight, tomorrow, the next night, etc. Each day forecast shows a sunrise time for Raleigh and each night forecast shows the following sunset time. In addition, if you click one of the "Almanac" links on the main weather page, you'll go to a section that includes a listing of both sunrise and sunset (along with moon data) for the current day. All of this is for the Raleigh area. If you're interested in sunrise and set for another location or date, there is a link on the Almanac page to the U.S. Naval Observatory's Sun and Moon data that will allow you to retrieve that information.
Apr. 22, 2013 | Tags: astronomy, wral.com

Answer: It's unlikely we'll be able to show both units on maps or graphics as they would become rather busy and cluttered. We do, however, provide an option to display some of the readings on our site in metric units. To toggle this setting on, just go to the "Current Conditions" page and you'll see a link to "Use metric units" under the report from the WRAL studios. This will change the text units displayed on the current conditions page to metric, and this will remain the case each time you visit the site unless you return to the current conditions page and click "Use English units" instead. Note that this change only applies to the current conditions page, and doesn't affect graphic images like the 7-day forecast or temperature maps, which are only rendered and displayed in English units.
Apr. 10, 2013 | Tags: maps & codes, wral.com