I have long since given up looking for reliable predictive weather information but, in assessing whether an app is any use to me there are two useful gauges. One is to see how accurate it is in confirming what the weather is now e.g. “Phew. How hot is this?” or “This is a bit windy, I wonder what the app says”. The other way I look at them is for a distillation of predictions and the rate at which the information changes with real time developments.
I work in the construction industry for which weather prediction is very important and the apps have been a boon. Not just for predicting the week’s weather but also for keeping records. I believe that the difficulty of weather prediction is greater in some parts of the world than others. If you live or work in an area where the weather pattern doesn’t change that much, the task may be simpler than if you live or work where the weather is volatile and - er - unpredictable!
Here in the middle of Scotland our weather can be entirely different, compared to how things are ten miles away in any direction. Sometimes it will be a complete contrast so it may be unreasonable to expect anyone to predict these variations, as distinct from the general patterns of movement of weather systems around the UK. I have tried many different app offerings to arrive at a best guess and, over the years, two apps have been more consistently useful than any others. The best one is yr.no which I used long before it has an iPhone app and, during those years, I had YR on my desktop and Weather Pro (DTN Germany GmbH) on my phone but I now have both “up front” on my phone. For a time I paid extra for the two week forecast on Weather Pro but the reality, for Scotland, is that beyond a few days all bets were off and looking beyond seven days was pointless, so I am back to one week coverage.
I look at both and using these and standing outside and looking around I get a pretty reliable idea of what is coming, both drifts and salients. They are also pretty good for telling me what is happening at remote sites and for preparing for journeys over distance. However, this is Scotland, so we’re in the habit of travelling with the expectation of wind, rain and scorching sunshine at some point in the day, taking the relevant precautions. The popular saying is: “If you don’t like the weather — wait twenty minutes…” Or to quote Billy Connolly: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing!”
Poll should have option for more than one, perhaps.
UK person… Apple and BBC Weather.
The latter uses UK Met Office data, AFAIUI (just don’t use the Met Office’s own app as it looks like something from iOS 4!), and is best used for a quick view on the day’s outlook, rather than super-detailed stuff Apple, Carrot, et al. offer.
Same here. Unfortunately, I clicked on Apple Weather hoping that I could check both…SNAP! Vote recorded.
My local TV station’s weather app (3340 Weather) is really, really good. It even includes thunderstorm tracks, tropical storm/hurricane projected tracks, lightening strikes, and a full 6 hours of “future” radar, although it’s slow to load and doesn’t work consistently in Europe.
Perhaps someone has mentioned this, but Dark Sky has a great animated weather map feature that allowed you to see a week or more forecast showing projected weather systems moving through your area. I don’t see that Apple’s weather app has included that feature. I’ve wondered why they could not have imported it into the app. Greatly missed.
I live in Sweden. Apple’s Weather app is OK but WeatherPro (macOS, iOS, iPadOS and watchOS) is more accurate for the place where I live. WeatherPro also gives two weeks forecasts if I pay a subscription fee (in app).
I also use MyRadar as I can see the radar trends so I can see where the precip is going. For better radar coverage around the CNY area I use a local tv’s live doppler app as it’s just on the hill a few miles away. I wish the radar on Apple’s weather app showed better the precip rather than just blue or purple blobs.
Apples app doesn’t show clearly enough for me hourly if there will be rain and how much. In Sweden where I live there are three major weather apps/sites that (I believe) the majority use:,@
I find AccuWeather gives a more complete and useful summary of the weather I’m looking for (primarily, temperature and wind speed for the next 24 hours on an hourly basis, as needed for seeing whether I can go biking). I used to use it on both the iPhone and iPad, but unfortunately it’s become unbelievably slow on my 3rd-gen iPad - it takes from 15 seconds to a full minute to launch on the iPad. Everything else on the iPad still works reasonably quickly, with the especially annoying exception of the App Store itself - I haven’t been able to figure out why those two apps act as though my internet connection is on a 56K modem, but everything else on the iPad is fine.
I experimented with Carrot app on the iPad, but found its presentation of information more cute than useful. Having finally upgraded to iPadOS 16 two weeks ago, though, I’m delighted to say that Apple’s new iPad Weather app is speedy and pretty much perfect for my needs, so I’ve finally deleted both AccuWeather and Carrot Weather from my iPad.
AccuWeather’s still more useful than Apple’s built-in weather app on my iPhone, for me.
I have no problems with subscriptions to software. But you have to have a fair chance to check out what you pay for. Windy offers no monthly option for Premium only year and no way to try out the premium. There is a free crippled version that looks nice, but updates only every 12 hours. How is that going to compete with yr that I already use for free? Yr updates the forecast frequently. As often as every hour when the weather is changing a lot. Since yr is doing a decent job of forecasting local weather, I see no reason to throw money at Windy.
Glad to see NOAA getting some love on this thread. Apple app on the phone is fine for quick checks, but beyond that I switch to the iPad and weather.gov, bookmarked for a point forecast at my location and elevation. Good radar and 8-mode hourly spline graph are a click away. Also, the human-written Forecast Discussion is an good read. Here in smoky Southern Ore, right now it starts, " DISCUSSION…Cheers rung through the office when we saw the sun shine down late this morning! Visibility is under 5 miles, but air quality values are better…"
I saw somewhere that NOAA is not allowed to put out an app. A shame.
Big CARROT Weather fan. Partly the DIY-UI but mostly because I am a weather nerd and I like having so many forecast sources available compare and contrast.
In Seattle, I use Apple’s Weather app on the iPhone daily, and I also use MyRadar to check precipitation during the rainy season, and AirNow during “smoke season.”
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