Click on the real-time weather site above to see a radar map of the United States which shows current precipitation levels. Radar images display precipitation whereas satellite images display cloud cover. Sometimes you will see images that combine both of these into one.

Note the time and date stamp on the map (top left, right above Canada). Can you figure out how current this information is?

What do the colors correspond to? Note the color scale at the bottom of the map.

If you click anywhere on the map, it will zoom in on that area. Note the time and date stamp of the zoomed-in area. Is it different than what you saw for the entire map? Some of the local areas update their images more regularly than is shown on the full state map.

You may want to explore a little more on this site. Use the links above the map to look at satellite images (cloud cover), surface maps (high and low pressure areas), upper level maps (jet stream), and radar loop (12 hour animation) as a start.