Mawün-NRT: A multi-product web platform for near real-time analysis of extreme precipitation events in Chile

In an era characterised by increasing climate variability and the intensification of extreme weather events, the need for accurate and timely precipitation data has never been more critical. While several websites and applications offer weather forecasts that are improving every day,there is a critical gap in readily available post-event precipitation data. The early identification and accurate characterisation of extreme precipitation events is paramount for monitoring risks associated with flooding, landslides and disruption to critical infrastructure.

In this work we present Mawün-NRT (in Mapuzungun, “mawün” means "rain”), a free and publicly accessible web platform (https://mawunnrt.cr2.cl/) that provides a user-friendly visualisation of the spatio-temporal distribution of precipitation events for continental Chile in near real-time. Three state-of-the-art precipitation products are included in this first version of Mawün-NRT: i) the near-real-time Multi-Source Weather (MSWX-NRT, 3‑hourly, 0.1°), ii) PERSIANN Dynamic Infrared–Rain Rate (PDIR-Now, hourly and 0.04°) and iii) the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERGv06, half-hourly, 0.1°) in both the Early and Late versions. In addition, hourly data from rain gauges of different Chilean institutions (e.g., DGA, DMC, Agromet, CEAZA) are collected from the Vismet web platform (https://www.vismet.cr2.cl/) and used to compare the gridded precipitation estimates with the corresponding in situ values. The platform's near real-time capabilities ensure that users have access to the latest precipitation data, empowering timely decision-making and proactive response to evolving weather conditions.

Mawün-NRT was developed by the Water Resources Observatory of the Department of Civil Engineering of the Universidad de La Frontera (Kimun-Ko, https://kimunko.ufro.cl) in collaboration with the Center for Climate and Resilience Research (CR2, https://www.cr2.cl) with the aim of enabling near real-time monitoring of precipitation events and moving towards a flood early warning system for floods.