Newer Weather Apps

[anon(50597)]

Don’t need anything but DarkSky.

 

[dmoskaluk]

Dark Sky is great where is is supported with local radar and hyper-local feedback. But USA, UK are among the few countries which provide sufficient locally sourced information for it to really shine. Thus as an App, it isn't available in most App stores from many countries, eg Canada ( or here in the West Indies). I do use a bookmark for their webpage information on my home screen which is amazingly accurate but is nowhere near as comprehensive as their App.
The data & information seen on the Hurricane Tracking apo I speak of has a very different focus than day to day forecasts however.

 

[dmoskaluk]

Gotta say - "My Radar" App is doing a fine job in displaying both the disturbance ( now a Tropical Depression - TD5 ) and it's projected track. Both track projection and storm composition are updated in real time and although the 'radar' display is a computer graphic simulation composite from satellite data ( used where & when radar coverage is not available) it is totally credible. The storm is forecast to become a Tropical Storm ( Dorian) sometime tonight or tomorrow, passing a bit north of Barbados mid-day Tuesday, then when across the Lesser Antilles, become a Cat 1 Hurricane. And though far from certain, it 'could' cross the Caribbean Sea, and the Greater Antilles, and track towards Florida and the Bahamas. This App & The Windy App will be of prime focus for us here in the islands over the next while.

 

[dmoskaluk]

Now that Dorian has wandered on its way, leaving us mostly unscathed, my 'Monday Morning QB' attitude has these observations about 'Weather Apps'. I can't say enough good things about 'My Radar' as well as my stalwart, 'Windy'. In a similar class is 'Ventusky' which has a nicer display but slower updating as things change. I suspect that the sources for Windy ( ECMWF or GFS) are quicker to use and display new information. The GFS actually does seem improved somewhat over past recent years, but the Euro model, although only updated by Windy every 12 hrs, will remain my 'go to' default at least for now.
Dark Sky is very accurate if & ONLY if it has good local feeds for radar and solid feedback from the area being researched. This excludes a lot ( including me) as its coverage shines for USA & UK but is a bit weak away from populous areas. It's far from unique that way as I've found that getting good accurate & timely local information from US based sources to be a tedious process. Very unfortunately, The Weather Channel App as well as Accuweather also have this downfall.
Now feeding 'Crowdsource' data ( both from private user weather stations as well as a feedback function in its revised app is Wunderground. I believe it's base information is 'The Weather Company as it's co-owned, BUT the Crowdsourcing features and it's simplicity of display made it a star for me as we watched the storm ( Dorian) develop, approach, pass, then leave peacefully. It's not for me to say, but if The Weather Company was to avail itself to the same local information that Wunderground can (?) and update or amend it's own displays it would be great information presented in a familiar fashion.