◓ Two sensors. One accurate rainfall.

Radar reach. Gauge truth.

GarrCast produces gauge-adjusted radar rainfall — NOAA NEXRAD bias-corrected against your rain gauges, quality-controlled by hydro-meteorologists, and delivered to your basins with documented accuracy. The detail of radar, anchored to the truth of the gauge.

NEXRAD Level II · ~5-min updates · gauge bias correction · QC & verification · model-ready

Radar QPE field — illustrativeSWEEP
High dBZRain cellGauge anchor
SourcesNOAA NEXRAD (WSR-88D)Dual-Pol Level IINOAA MRMSNWS Stage IVTipping-bucket gauges
What is GARR

Two independent sensors, each with a blind spot the other fills.

A rain gauge measures rainfall accurately — but only over a few inches of ground, and it tells you nothing about what fell between gauges. Radar maps the whole storm, but estimates amounts indirectly and drifts without correction. GARR combines them: radar for spatial structure, gauges for ground truth.

Point truth

Rain gauges

  • Accurate rainfall at a fixed point
  • Direct, physical measurement
  • Nothing measured between gauges
  • Fail when clogged, off-level, or offline
Spatial reach

NEXRAD radar

  • Full spatial coverage of the storm
  • Excellent at relative intensity & structure
  • Indirect — estimates, doesn't measure, amounts
  • Bias from beam height, hail, brightband

→ GARR = radar's coverage, corrected to the gauges' truth, and quality-controlled.

How GARR is produced

From raw reflectivity to verified, model-ready rainfall.

Every event moves through the same disciplined pipeline — automated in real time, then reviewed and documented for the record.

01

Ingest

NEXRAD Level II reflectivity (dBZ) and rain-gauge time series stream in continuously.

02

Radar QPE

Reflectivity converted to rain rate via adaptive Z–R and dual-pol estimators.

03

Bias correct

Radar is adjusted against gauges to remove systematic bias and anchor amounts.

04

QC & verify

Anomalies removed; hydro-met review; accuracy documented vs. independent gauges.

05

Deliver

Filtered to your grids, catchments & basins — model-ready, with reports.

The science

The methodology behind the number.

Z–R

Adaptive Z–R

Reflectivity-to-rain-rate relationships are continuously evaluated against gauges rather than fixed, capturing how storm type changes the conversion.

Dual-polarization

Dual-pol Level II variables improve rain-rate estimation and help screen hail and non-meteorological echoes.

Gauge adjustment

Spatially and temporally varied bias correction ties the radar field to ground truth — even when some gauges drop out.

Quality control

Automated screening plus manual hydro-meteorologist review removes inconsistent radar and gauge data per storm period.

Verification

GARR is cross-checked against independent gauges and references like NWS Stage IV, with documented accuracy.

Basin filtering

Final rainfall is weighted and averaged to your catchments and basins — the geometry your models actually use.

Advanced analytics

Modern analytics on a rigorous foundation.

Machine learning improves the hard, fuzzy parts of the problem — without ever replacing the physics-based, gauge-anchored, documented core that makes GARR defensible.

Learned Z–R tuning

Data-driven relationships adapt to regional storm regimes and seasons for better rain rates.

ML bias correction

Models capture nonlinear radar–gauge relationships across range and terrain.

Anomaly detection

Automatic flagging of clogged gauges, ground clutter, hail spikes, and artifacts.

Nowcast extension

Deep-learning extrapolation projects the QPE field forward for short-range forecasting.

Applications

Where accurate, high-resolution rainfall changes the answer.

Wet weather & CSO/SSO

Spatially variable rainfall for collection-system planning, design, rehabilitation, and operations — capturing how sewersheds respond to real storms.

Regulatory reporting

Quality-controlled, documented inputs and daily wet/dry catchment assessments suitable for regulatory submission.

Design storms & recurrence

Historical GARR for recurrence-interval analysis, IDF context, and design-storm characterization.

Forensic & litigation

Defensible, documented rainfall reconstruction for claims, disputes, and post-event "what actually fell here" questions.

Flood early warning

High-resolution real-time rainfall as input to monitoring, alerting, and emergency response.

Reservoir & water resources

Watershed rainfall for inflow forecasting, gate operations, and water-resources planning.

Who we serve

Trusted where rainfall has to be right.

Water & wastewater utilities

Sewer and stormwater modeling, capacity analysis, RTC, and regulatory rainfall of record.

Counties & municipalities

Stormwater and drainage design, flood awareness, and defensible rainfall documentation.

Engineering & consulting firms

Calibrated, model-ready rainfall for H&H studies, master plans, and forensic analysis.

Flood control & water districts

Basin rainfall for early warning, reservoir inflow, and operations.

Emergency management & DOTs

Real-time and historical rainfall for response, corridors, and after-action review.

Insurers & legal teams

Independent, documented storm reconstruction for claims and disputes.

Questions

Frequently asked

What exactly is GARR?
Gauge-adjusted radar rainfall: weather-radar rainfall estimates that have been bias-corrected against rain gauges and quality-controlled. It combines radar's spatial coverage with gauges' point accuracy to produce rainfall more accurate and representative than either source alone. GARR is an established industry technique; GarrCast is an independent provider of it.
How accurate is it, and can I trust it for regulatory work?
Accuracy is verified against independent gauges and documented per project — which is what makes GARR suitable for regulatory submissions, design, and forensic use. We provide the documentation, not just the numbers.
Do I need my own rain gauges?
Your gauges improve local adjustment, but GARR can use regional gauge networks too — and it still produces representative rainfall when some gauges fail or communications are lost.
Real-time, post-event, or both?
Both. Real-time GARR (updating roughly every five minutes) supports monitoring and early warning, while post-event analysis adds professional correction, verification, and documentation for the record.
What formats do you deliver?
Rainfall filtered to your grids, catchments, or basins in model-ready formats for common H&H/hydraulic software, plus reports and an API or portal for access.

Get rainfall you can defend.

Send us your service area and the storms that matter — we'll walk you through GARR for your basins.

hello@garrcast.com
Talk to a hydro-met