How to read Today, Past 24 Hours, and Past 7 Days

Today follows the local calendar

On Rain by Zip, Today begins at midnight in the selected location’s time zone and ends at the latest completed analysis hour. At 9 a.m., it covers roughly the first nine hours of the local day; at 9 p.m., it covers most of the day. The current incomplete hour is excluded because radar and model data may still change while that hour is being processed.

A storm that begins before midnight and continues afterward is split between two calendar days. Today therefore answers “how much has fallen since local midnight?” It does not necessarily describe the whole storm.

Past 24 Hours is a moving window

The 24-hour total looks backward from the most recent completed analysis hour. Its start time moves forward as the day progresses. That makes it useful for an overnight storm or any event that crosses midnight, because the accumulation is not reset at the calendar boundary.

Today can be smaller than the 24-hour total when rain fell yesterday evening. Later, as those wet hours leave the rolling window, the 24-hour amount can decrease even if no data was removed or corrected. That is normal behavior for a moving total.

Past 7 Days adds short-term context

The seven-day total shows whether recent conditions have been broadly wet or dry. It can combine one major storm with several smaller events. Because the window rolls, an old wet day eventually drops out and the total can fall sharply without a new measurement problem.

Use the daily table to understand the composition of the seven-day value. Two locations with the same weekly total may have experienced very different conditions—steady light rain in one place and one intense downpour in another.

Choosing the right number

All Rain by Zip recent totals end at the same completed analysis hour so the overlapping periods remain internally consistent. The displayed “through” time tells you where each window ends.

• For rain since midnight, use Today.
• For an overnight storm or the most recent full day, use Past 24 Hours.
• For recent soil moisture or a short wet/dry pattern, start with Past 7 Days and inspect the daily values.
• For a specific event, select exact historical dates and verify the local time boundary.
• For flood safety, use official observations, forecasts, and warnings rather than a general rainfall total.