weather app Best Weather App in 2024

[Strokumvt]

Not sure where to make this post but maybe this is the spot?  I am looking for a new weather iOS app.  Accuweather recently went behind a paywall for some longer term forecasting.  I prefer forums like this and models to take a look at the weather but sometimes an app on my phone is much easier.  I am willing to pay a yearly fee or something as long as I am getting good return for what I pay for.

Anyone have any recommendations or suggestions on what they like or hate for apps in iOS?  Free or Pay?  Thanks!

[Mainiac]

On 3/3/2023 at 8:34 AM, Strokumvt said:

Not sure where to make this post but maybe this is the spot?  I am looking for a new weather iOS app.  Accuweather recently went behind a paywall for some longer term forecasting.  I prefer forums like this and models to take a look at the weather but sometimes an app on my phone is much easier.  I am willing to pay a yearly fee or something as long as I am getting good return for what I pay for.

Anyone have any recommendations or suggestions on what they like or hate for apps in iOS?  Free or Pay?  Thanks!

I just saw this post and it is almost a year old. That aside, I'll drop some of my favorite apps for future reference.  

Note: I'm a rank amateur when it comes to meteorology and use these apps in a practical sense. 

First of all, it is important that you choose an app that allows for the data source best attuned to your local environment. Forecast Advisor is a tool that will allow you to view accuracy based on zip code. 

In my case, it is The Weather Channel:

Section I: Forecast Apps

Since TWC is my most accurate source, I like the paid version of The Weather Channel app. Paying removes ads, and allows for their hybrid future forecast tools. As someone who is either biking or skiing every day, accurate wind forecasts are fundamental as they help me craft my route. I find the hourly projections to be very accurate for both wind and precipitation. 

I did try using the stock Apple Weather app (RIP Dark Sky) and it was horrible. It is the type of app that would say there is a 0% chance of rain during a monsoon. I refuse to use Accuweather on principle. I've tried the popular carrot but did not feel the features warranted the subscription and I don't need my weather app to have an attitude. Hello Weather, Weather Bug, Weather Underground et. al have some interesting features but in the end did not suit my needs. 

Section II: Radar Apps

I'm quite biased in this regard as I've been using Radar Scope with their Pro 2 subscription for years across all my devices. I see that Ryan Hall uses Radar Omega during his storm livestreams and it looks to be a competent app. However, the primary complaint is that it is almost useless unless you pay the subscription, even after purchasing the app.  One primary advantage over Radarscope is that you can view radar mosaics while Radarscope is localized to a specific WSR-88D or TDWR. 

I know a few people who really like Clime: NOAA Weather Radar Live. I did not find it particularly compelling and I suspect I'm so accustom to viewing raw level II radar data that I tend not to like radar apps with excessive smoothing. 

 

Section III: Misc

My favorite weather app hands down is FlowX. The iOS app is still in development. This app allows you to view both global and regional High-Resolution data. HRRR, NAM 12km, NAM 3km, RDPS, HRDPS, HRRR Smoke, HYSPLIT Smoke, GFS, GDPS, ICON and more. Currently free, but it will eventually require a subscription when it comes out of beta. 

I use the Ambient Weather app for my weather station and it is also useful to track down other amateur weather stations during storms and get readings in real-time.

Tropical Hurricane Tracker suits my needs for hurricanes. A very simple app with mostly basic features. It's enough to keep me generally apprised of tropical systems.  

Finally, I've started testing Windy.app which seems to be one of the most data-rich apps available. They offer a 30-day free trial to test out as it is a bit pricy. It allows you to plug in an activity and then run through projected forecasts based on the model you choose. 

 

 

To be honest, I'm not sure I need the forecast granularity of Windy.app, but it is fun.

 

Finally, an article about weather apps from The Verge that addresses the current weather app landscape. 

 

 

Edit: I'd love to hear recommendations. One can never have enough weather apps!

Edit2: This is the type of specific insight that I seek when planning my travel route. I am able to identify the switch in wind direction and thus head outbound south, followed by a return to the north, attempting to stay somewhat with the prevailing winds.

I think this is a modeling anomaly in this case, but still worth a shot. 

 

[clm]

Your data is from 2022, would be interesting to compare it to 2023.

Data for my area shows Microsoft being the top. 

Note, this was done on mobile so the pasting wasn't too good.  Percentage for each app are below the vendors name

 

Note: Weather Underground uses the same forecast as The Weather Channel and so is not shown.

Also mobile only gives one percentage versus the desktop view.

Weather Forecast Accuracy Last Year (2023)

Microsoft

 

83.33%

The Weather Channel

 

82.01%

Foreca/Vaisala

 

80.09%

AccuWeather

 

78.04%

AerisWeather

 

76.78%

Weatherbit

 

75.10%

NWS Digital Forecast

 

73.18%

Wetter

 

66.89%

World Weather Online

 

66.05%

OpenWeather

 

62.76%

Persistence

 

44.66%

[clm]

On 1/10/2024 at 8:09 AM, Mainiac said:

I just saw this post and it is almost a year old. That aside, I'll drop some of my favorite apps for future reference.  

Note: I'm a rank amateur when it comes to meteorology and use these apps in a practical sense. 

First of all, it is important that you choose an app that allows for the data source best attuned to your local environment. Forecast Advisor is a tool that will allow you to view accuracy based on zip code. 

In my case, it is The Weather Channel:

Section I: Forecast Apps

Since TWC is my most accurate source, I like the paid version of The Weather Channel app. Paying removes ads, and allows for their hybrid future forecast tools. As someone who is either biking or skiing every day, accurate wind forecasts are fundamental as they help me craft my route. I find the hourly projections to be very accurate for both wind and precipitation. 

I did try using the stock Apple Weather app (RIP Dark Sky) and it was horrible. It is the type of app that would say there is a 0% chance of rain during a monsoon. I refuse to use Accuweather on principle. I've tried the popular carrot but did not feel the features warranted the subscription and I don't need my weather app to have an attitude. Hello Weather, Weather Bug, Weather Underground et. al have some interesting features but in the end did not suit my needs. 

Section II: Radar Apps

I'm quite biased in this regard as I've been using Radar Scope with their Pro 2 subscription for years across all my devices. I see that Ryan Hall uses Radar Omega during his storm livestreams and it looks to be a competent app. However, the primary complaint is that it is almost useless unless you pay the subscription, even after purchasing the app.  One primary advantage over Radarscope is that you can view radar mosaics while Radarscope is localized to a specific WSR-88D or TDWR. 

I know a few people who really like Clime: NOAA Weather Radar Live. I did not find it particularly compelling and I suspect I'm so accustom to viewing raw level II radar data that I tend not to like radar apps with excessive smoothing. 

 

Section III: Misc

My favorite weather app hands down is FlowX. The iOS app is still in development. This app allows you to view both global and regional High-Resolution data. HRRR, NAM 12km, NAM 3km, RDPS, HRDPS, HRRR Smoke, HYSPLIT Smoke, GFS, GDPS, ICON and more. Currently free, but it will eventually require a subscription when it comes out of beta. 

I use the Ambient Weather app for my weather station and it is also useful to track down other amateur weather stations during storms and get readings in real-time.

Tropical Hurricane Tracker suits my needs for hurricanes. A very simple app with mostly basic features. It's enough to keep me generally apprised of tropical systems.  

Finally, I've started testing Windy.app which seems to be one of the most data-rich apps available. They offer a 30-day free trial to test out as it is a bit pricy. It allows you to plug in an activity and then run through projected forecasts based on the model you choose. 

 

 

To be honest, I'm not sure I need the forecast granularity of Windy.app, but it is fun.

 

Finally, an article about weather apps from The Verge that addresses the current weather app landscape. 

 

 

Edit: I'd love to hear recommendations. One can never have enough weather apps!

Edit2: This is the type of specific insight that I seek when planning my travel route. I am able to identify the switch in wind direction and thus head outbound south, followed by a return to the north, attempting to stay somewhat with the prevailing winds.

I think this is a modeling anomaly in this case, but still worth a shot. 

 

As an FYI, if viewing on mobile, be sure to click on "Further Accuracy Analysis" under the initial results.

I don't know how it looks on a laptop/desktop as I haven't had the chance to view it on there

[TLChip]

On 1/10/2024 at 8:09 AM, Mainiac said:

Finally, I've started testing Windy.app which seems to be one of the most data-rich apps available. They offer a 30-day free trial to test out as it is a bit pricy. It allows you to plug in an activity and then run through projected forecasts based on the model you choose. 

Was curious if you liked it/has enough worth while data on it. I just checked the website and they have a lifetime purchase for ~$110, which isn't bad if I use it as long as I've used something like Radarscope and have a subscription.

[Mainiac]

59 minutes ago, TLChip said:

Was curious if you liked it/has enough worth while data on it. I just checked the website and they have a lifetime purchase for ~$110, which isn't bad if I use it as long as I've used something like Radarscope and have a subscription.

I didn't realize there was a lifetime option and was debating the $79.99 price tag a year via the iOS app store with their egregious markup.  The app is perfect for my usage, especially the integration with Strava where I can enter bike routes along with a time frame and then get a personalized micro forecast for the duration of my ride that seems to even take into account elevation change with wind speed. Truly amazing technology. 

And I agree, it is a perfect accompaniment for RadarScope.

Ended up splurging on the $109-lifetime deal.  Thanks for the heads up!

 

Edit: I'll also add it detects my weather station as being closest to me and looks to pull a forecast based on that hyperlocal data. 

 

[TLChip]

1 hour ago, Mainiac said:

I didn't realize there was a lifetime option and was debating the $79.99 price tag a year via the iOS app store with their egregious markup.  The app is perfect for my usage, especially the integration with Strava where I can enter bike routes along with a time frame and then get a personalized micro forecast for the duration of my ride that seems to even take into account elevation change with wind speed. Truly amazing technology. 

And I agree, it is a perfect accompaniment for RadarScope.

Ended up splurging on the $109-lifetime deal.  Thanks for the heads up!

 

Edit: I'll also add it detects my weather station as being closest to me and looks to pull a forecast based on that hyperlocal data. 

 

You may have just sold me with the hiking and biking. Cherry picking hiking weekend trips….

[clm]

On 1/21/2024 at 9:18 AM, TLChip said:

Was curious if you liked it/has enough worth while data on it. I just checked the website and they have a lifetime purchase for ~$110, which isn't bad if I use it as long as I've used something like Radarscope and have a subscription.

I don't see Windy on that list unless they're under someone else (i.e. Weatherbit, etc....)

[TLChip]

I don’t think it will show up for accuracy, it has all the models in it… here’s how I quickly setup mine yesterday. Lots of tweaks to go yet, still figuring it out.

[clm]

On 1/21/2024 at 9:49 AM, Mainiac said:

I didn't realize there was a lifetime option and was debating the $79.99 price tag a year via the iOS app store with their egregious markup.  The app is perfect for my usage, especially the integration with Strava where I can enter bike routes along with a time frame and then get a personalized micro forecast for the duration of my ride that seems to even take into account elevation change with wind speed. Truly amazing technology. 

And I agree, it is a perfect accompaniment for RadarScope.

Ended up splurging on the $109-lifetime deal.  Thanks for the heads up!

 

Edit: I'll also add it detects my weather station as being closest to me and looks to pull a forecast based on that hyperlocal data. 

 

Does that 109 lifetime include updates?

[TLChip]

3 hours ago, clm said:

Does that 109 lifetime include updates?

That was my assumption, hopefully the app doesn’t die out too soon lol

[clm]

1 minute ago, TLChip said:

That was my assumption, hopefully the app doesn’t die out too soon lol

Yeah that is my concern.

[Mainiac]

Yeah, I figure at the iOS yearly subscription rate I only need about two years to break even. They've been around for 8 years but could be bought out by Apple or some other big player tomorrow and shut down e.g. Dark Sky. 

[TLChip]

That was the last app I used, I miss it. 

I do like windy.app so far, you can customize what you see and set profiles. If I want to see winter info/lots of info/or the quick and dirty.

 

 

[StLweatherjunkie]

On 1/19/2024 at 6:09 PM, clm said:

Your data is from 2022, would be interesting to compare it to 2023.

Data for my area shows Microsoft being the top. 

Note, this was done on mobile so the pasting wasn't too good.  Percentage for each app are below the vendors name

 

Note: Weather Underground uses the same forecast as The Weather Channel and so is not shown.

Also mobile only gives one percentage versus the desktop view.

Weather Forecast Accuracy Last Year (2023)

Microsoft

 

83.33%

The Weather Channel

 

82.01%

Foreca/Vaisala

 

80.09%

AccuWeather

 

78.04%

AerisWeather

 

76.78%

Weatherbit

 

75.10%

NWS Digital Forecast

 

73.18%

Wetter

 

66.89%

World Weather Online

 

66.05%

OpenWeather

 

62.76%

Persistence

 

44.66%

Just wanted to quickly comment on this forecast accuracy stuff.

As far as I can tell, the only thing the forecast advisor seems to be verifying is daily high temperatures being within 3 degrees F of observed values in a zip code. Who knows where that observed temperature data is coming from or how they're averaging data to get a zip codes forecast value, but I wouldn't be shocked if there was cherry picking of data going on. Anyways, the notion that any of these private companies makes better weather forecasts than the NWS is a joke. Weather forecasting is so much more than being within 3F of the high temperature and these companies would be up schits creek without model data (among many other datasets) from NOAA.

Practically every one of the 122 NWS offices has the same quantity of meteorologists as the entire staff of any one of these private companies. 

I guess I'm just asking that the next time there's an effort to privatize the NWS that we all remember that the average tax paying citizen pays about $4 of their annual taxes to fund the NWS. Folks in this thread are talking about spending $100 on a weather app ... How much will the life saving weather warnings cost?

Edited February 17 by StLweatherjunkie

[Mainiac]

7 hours ago, StLweatherjunkie said:

I guess I'm just asking that the next time there's an effort to privatize the NWS that we all remember that the average tax paying citizen pays about $4 of their annual taxes to fund the NWS. Folks in this thread are talking about spending $100 on a weather app ... How much will the life saving weather warnings cost?

To lay out 3rd party app usage context:

Windy.app et al. are not replacements for National Weather Service data gathering and forecasting. Nor are they replacements for NWS weather warnings and alerts. They are apps which offer bespoke presentations of weather data and weather products that can't be easily consumed via the NWS website.

The US government is not a software company. Most of their products have a UI from the mid 2000s and a poor mobile UX.

It took them a decade+ after the introduction of the iPhone to make a semi-competent point forecast web application and it is still quite horrible. The main NWS landing page for NWS CAR is not mobile optimized in 2024 and very challenging to use on the go (my phone is mounted to my handlebars). 

^Proper northern Maine biking gear for February. 

Edit: Take note of the "highly desirable" winter calcium chloride patina. 😉

^  This is not easy to use on a phone moving at 15 mph with a wind chill of -20° while wearing gloves. 

I use Windy.app for their spectrum of model data. The NWS does not provide an easy to use product on the go for the HRRR so that I can see if it is going to snow on my route in the next 45 minutes based on real time data ingestion. The NWS does not provide model comparison based on time so I can make educated decisions about wind speed derived from heading. The NWS also does not provide data from other high resolution models like products from the ECMWF. 

I personally don't use Accuweather for anything, specifically because of their CEO and calls for privatization. That said, there is definitely a place for public/private partnerships and building on the foundation of publicly funded data.

I'll also say I'm a contributor to that data as a CWOP operator and my station readings are often used in NWS Caribou text products as supplementary regional data points. 

 As someone who is outdoors every day in northern Maine for hours at a time, $100 is a small price to pay for an innovative high quality product that makes it easy to make decisions in the field.  

Making bad decisions about the weather while cycling in northern Maine this time of year can easily be life threatening. 

Although most of the time, it's just fun! 

 

 

 

 

[StLweatherjunkie]

12 hours ago, Mainiac said:

To lay out 3rd party app usage context:

Windy.app et al. are not replacements for National Weather Service data gathering and forecasting. Nor are they replacements for NWS weather warnings and alerts. They are apps which offer bespoke presentations of weather data and weather products that can't be easily consumed via the NWS website.

The US government is not a software company. Most of their products have a UI from the mid 2000s and a poor mobile UX.

It took them a decade+ after the introduction of the iPhone to make a semi-competent point forecast web application and it is still quite horrible. The main NWS landing page for NWS CAR is not mobile optimized in 2024 and very challenging to use on the go (my phone is mounted to my handlebars). 

^Proper northern Maine biking gear for February. 

Edit: Take note of the "highly desirable" winter calcium chloride patina. 😉

^  This is not easy to use on a phone moving at 15 mph with a wind chill of -20° while wearing gloves. 

I use Windy.app for their spectrum of model data. The NWS does not provide an easy to use product on the go for the HRRR so that I can see if it is going to snow on my route in the next 45 minutes based on real time data ingestion. The NWS does not provide model comparison based on time so I can make educated decisions about wind speed derived from heading. The NWS also does not provide data from other high resolution models like products from the ECMWF. 

I personally don't use Accuweather for anything, specifically because of their CEO and calls for privatization. That said, there is definitely a place for public/private partnerships and building on the foundation of publicly funded data.

I'll also say I'm a contributor to that data as a CWOP operator and my station readings are often used in NWS Caribou text products as supplementary regional data points. 

 As someone who is outdoors every day in northern Maine for hours at a time, $100 is a small price to pay for an innovative high quality product that makes it easy to make decisions in the field.  

Making bad decisions about the weather while cycling in northern Maine this time of year can easily be life threatening. 

 

IMG_0479.mov 58.85 MB · 0 downloads

Although most of the time, it's just fun! 

 

 

 

 

I'm well aware of how difficult the NWS website is to use, because it was made long ago and there's been very little investment since then beyond the bare bones to keep it running, because elected officials want to fund the military industrial complex over well literally anything else.  The fact that the NWS is unable to make an app, because that would compete with the private sector is next level hamstringing in the age of smart phones.

My comment was only about the "accuracy" of various forecasts considering recent and ongoing efforts to privatize the NWS, which would be monumentally stupid. You're right that Accuweather's CEO is probably the worst offender, but the reality of the situation is weather information is valuable on a good day and life-saving on a bad day. There are plenty of people willing to twist that fact into a lucrative payday so I will be very outspoken against any claim that NWS forecasts aren't accurate. I know you didn't say anything like that, but the forecast accuracy stuff above needs major caveats and shouldn't be accepted at face value.

[clm]

3 hours ago, StLweatherjunkie said:

I'm well aware of how difficult the NWS website is to use, because it was made long ago and there's been very little investment since then beyond the bare bones to keep it running, because elected officials want to fund the military industrial complex over well literally anything else.  The fact that the NWS is unable to make an app, because that would compete with the private sector is next level hamstringing in the age of smart phones.

My comment was only about the "accuracy" of various forecasts considering recent and ongoing efforts to privatize the NWS, which would be monumentally stupid. You're right that Accuweather's CEO is probably the worst offender, but the reality of the situation is weather information is valuable on a good day and life-saving on a bad day. There are plenty of people willing to twist that fact into a lucrative payday so I will be very outspoken against any claim that NWS forecasts aren't accurate. I know you didn't say anything like that, but the forecast accuracy stuff above needs major caveats and shouldn't be accepted at face value.

You'd think weather would be in the gov't's best interests because of the army, navy and air force as well as any drones and deployment of men would need to know the weather beforehand.  

Another things is with the weather apps, do they specify where they pull their data from?  

[clm]

16 hours ago, Mainiac said:

To lay out 3rd party app usage context:

Windy.app et al. are not replacements for National Weather Service data gathering and forecasting. Nor are they replacements for NWS weather warnings and alerts. They are apps which offer bespoke presentations of weather data and weather products that can't be easily consumed via the NWS website.

The US government is not a software company. Most of their products have a UI from the mid 2000s and a poor mobile UX.

It took them a decade+ after the introduction of the iPhone to make a semi-competent point forecast web application and it is still quite horrible. The main NWS landing page for NWS CAR is not mobile optimized in 2024 and very challenging to use on the go (my phone is mounted to my handlebars). 

^Proper northern Maine biking gear for February. 

Edit: Take note of the "highly desirable" winter calcium chloride patina. 😉

^  This is not easy to use on a phone moving at 15 mph with a wind chill of -20° while wearing gloves. 

I use Windy.app for their spectrum of model data. The NWS does not provide an easy to use product on the go for the HRRR so that I can see if it is going to snow on my route in the next 45 minutes based on real time data ingestion. The NWS does not provide model comparison based on time so I can make educated decisions about wind speed derived from heading. The NWS also does not provide data from other high resolution models like products from the ECMWF. 

I personally don't use Accuweather for anything, specifically because of their CEO and calls for privatization. That said, there is definitely a place for public/private partnerships and building on the foundation of publicly funded data.

I'll also say I'm a contributor to that data as a CWOP operator and my station readings are often used in NWS Caribou text products as supplementary regional data points. 

 As someone who is outdoors every day in northern Maine for hours at a time, $100 is a small price to pay for an innovative high quality product that makes it easy to make decisions in the field.  

Making bad decisions about the weather while cycling in northern Maine this time of year can easily be life threatening. 

 

IMG_0479.mov 58.85 MB · 0 downloads

Although most of the time, it's just fun! 

 

 

 

 

Well said.  Also love the video.  

Though you may want to look into doing something like this.  😁

 

[clm]

On 2/17/2024 at 7:16 AM, Mainiac said:

To lay out 3rd party app usage context:

Windy.app et al. are not replacements for National Weather Service data gathering and forecasting. Nor are they replacements for NWS weather warnings and alerts. They are apps which offer bespoke presentations of weather data and weather products that can't be easily consumed via the NWS website.

The US government is not a software company. Most of their products have a UI from the mid 2000s and a poor mobile UX.

It took them a decade+ after the introduction of the iPhone to make a semi-competent point forecast web application and it is still quite horrible. The main NWS landing page for NWS CAR is not mobile optimized in 2024 and very challenging to use on the go (my phone is mounted to my handlebars). 

^Proper northern Maine biking gear for February. 

Edit: Take note of the "highly desirable" winter calcium chloride patina. 😉

^  This is not easy to use on a phone moving at 15 mph with a wind chill of -20° while wearing gloves. 

I use Windy.app for their spectrum of model data. The NWS does not provide an easy to use product on the go for the HRRR so that I can see if it is going to snow on my route in the next 45 minutes based on real time data ingestion. The NWS does not provide model comparison based on time so I can make educated decisions about wind speed derived from heading. The NWS also does not provide data from other high resolution models like products from the ECMWF. 

I personally don't use Accuweather for anything, specifically because of their CEO and calls for privatization. That said, there is definitely a place for public/private partnerships and building on the foundation of publicly funded data.

I'll also say I'm a contributor to that data as a CWOP operator and my station readings are often used in NWS Caribou text products as supplementary regional data points. 

 As someone who is outdoors every day in northern Maine for hours at a time, $100 is a small price to pay for an innovative high quality product that makes it easy to make decisions in the field.  

Making bad decisions about the weather while cycling in northern Maine this time of year can easily be life threatening. 

 

Although most of the time, it's just fun! 

 

 

 

 

Out of curiosity, what did their CEO do?

[Mainiac]

8 hours ago, clm said:

Out of curiosity, what did their CEO do?

It looks like they recently got a new CEO, but the Accuweather founders have been connected with the push to privatize weather for decades, including the infamous National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005.

Even with a new CEO, the same people control the company and thus likely have the same strategic vision of stamping out public weather data dissemination to increase profits. 

[clm]

2 hours ago, Mainiac said:

It looks like they recently got a new CEO, but the Accuweather founders have been connected with the push to privatize weather for decades, including the infamous National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005.

Even with a new CEO, the same people control the company and thus likely have the same strategic vision of stamping out public weather data dissemination to increase profits. 

Yeah um no.  It should not be privatized.  That would make it "well if you pay X, I will give you a broad weather forecast, but if you pay X+Y I will give you a more in depth forecast and if you pay X*Y and add 10 billion zillion onto that, then I will let you know if there is a hurricane headed towards you and when.  Oh but you're overdue by 1 day on your payment, well not gonna tell you when that hurricane will hit."