Near-real-time imagery from the Meteosat-12 weather satellite is now available to the public through two continuous YouTube streams, published by EUMETSAT.

The streams – embedded below – provide close-up views of Europe and Africa from geostationary orbit, approximately 36,000km above Earth, with imagery updated every 10 minutes as new satellite data is received.

During daylight hours, the streams display true-color imagery overlaid with lightning data from the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellite. At night, the view switches to infrared imagery using the 10.8-micron channel, combined with NASA’s Black Marble night lights dataset.

All imagery is presented in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). A delay of around 30 minutes is applied to allow for data reception and processing before images are added to the stream.

This is part of a mission designed to support weather forecasting and nowcasting, which involves identifying rapidly developing severe weather. MTG marks a leap forward from the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites, introducing new technologies that will support meteorological observations for the coming decades. It offers higher-resolution images, faster updates and a broader range of spectral observations, including lightning detection, making it a vital tool for forecasters across Europe and Africa.