Visualization of weather phenomenon along a path in three-dimensions

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• a communication device connected to the processor;
• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium connected to the processor and storing:
• weather data representing a plurality of weather events present in at least one of a plurality of altitude zones for a physical area centered on a reference point,
• a corresponding intensity rank assigned to each of the plurality of weather events,
• a corresponding grid defined for the physical area at each of the plurality of altitude zones, the corresponding grid comprising corresponding sectors defined by corresponding lines and vertices,
• a corresponding highest intensity ranking weather event extant in each of the corresponding sectors,
• a selected altitude zone from among the plurality of altitude zones, and
• a rendered image comprising a corresponding grid for the selected altitude zone, the corresponding grid for the selected altitude zone comprising corresponding lines and vertices and corresponding sectors highlighted according to the corresponding highest intensity ranking weather event extant in each of the corresponding sectors in the selected altitude zone;
• a pre-processing program executable by the processor to:
• receive the weather data from the communication device,
• assign the corresponding intensity rank to each of the plurality of weather events,
• divide each of the plurality of altitude zones into the corresponding grid,
• assign, to each of the corresponding sectors in the plurality of altitude zones, the corresponding highest intensity ranking weather event extant in the corresponding sectors, and
• receive a selection of the selected altitude zone;
• and
• a rendering engine executable by the processor to generate the rendered image by being configured to:
• render the corresponding grid for the selected altitude zone by rendering the corresponding lines and vertices for the selected altitude zone, and
• render the corresponding sectors for the selected altitude zone, by highlighting each of the corresponding sectors according to the corresponding highest intensity ranking weather event extant in each of the corresponding sectors in the selected altitude zone;
• and
• a display device connected to the processor and configured to display the rendered image.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer useable program code which, when executed by a processor, performs a computer-implemented method of presenting weather data on a graphical user interface (GUI), the computer-implemented method comprising:

• receiving the weather data, wherein the weather data represents a plurality of weather events, and wherein at least one of the plurality of weather events is present in at least one of a plurality of altitude zones for a physical area centered on a reference point;
• assigning a corresponding intensity rank to each of the plurality of weather events;
• dividing each of the plurality of altitude zones into a corresponding grid defined for the physical area, each corresponding grid comprising corresponding sectors defined by corresponding lines and vertices;
• assigning, to each of the corresponding sectors in the plurality of altitude zones, a corresponding highest intensity ranking weather event extant in the corresponding sectors;
• receiving a selection of a selected altitude zone from among the plurality of altitude zones;
• generating a rendered image by rendering the corresponding grid for the selected altitude zone;
• and
• displaying the rendered image on the GUI.