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Navy salad Member
Joined: 09 Sep 2008 Posts: 1865 | TRs | Pics Location: Woodinville |
My current App (Weather Bug) often shows conflicting forecasts depending on whether you look at hourly or full day forecasts -OR- shows 0% chance of rain even while it is raining hard! I realize there is no perfect weather forecast -- all I'm looking for in an improvement!
I prefer an App where there is either tolerable amounts of advertising or where you can pay $4 or $5 per year to remove them.
Any suggestions?
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fourteen410 Member
Joined: 23 May 2008 Posts: 2628 | TRs | Pics
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I've used NOAA's free app for years and had no issues.
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Cyclopath Faster than light
Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Posts: 7731 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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Cyclopath
Faster than light
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Tue Jun 02, 2020 7:52 pm
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Are you using Android or iOS?
I've been using Dark Sky, they dropped their Android support.
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awilsondc Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2016 Posts: 1324 | TRs | Pics
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Windy is a great app. Also available via Windy.com. I also use Clear Outside for cloud cover predictions although it's not a totally intuitive interface, but if you can get the hang of it, it can be reliable.
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texasbb Misplaced Texan
Joined: 30 Mar 2009 Posts: 1153 | TRs | Pics Location: Tri-Cities, WA |
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texasbb
Misplaced Texan
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Wed Jun 03, 2020 11:01 am
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A forecast is a forecast, not a weather report. ALL forecasts will at times disagree with what's happening outside your window. Forecasts may have taken significant time on a supercomputer to create, so you can't expect them to update in real time when a cloud moves overhead.
And yes, different kinds of forecast (hourly, daily summary, medium term, long term) will give different predictions. Apps differ mostly in their interfaces and features; many/most of them draw on the same or similar forecasts.
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thunderhead Member
Joined: 14 Oct 2015 Posts: 1519 | TRs | Pics
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short answer: weather.gov (this is the same as NOAA already mentioned) and mountain-forecast.com are best.
The long answer can get very long...
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Jake Robinson Member
Joined: 02 Aug 2016 Posts: 521 | TRs | Pics
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windy.com (or the app, both free), compare the models. The degree to which the models agree gives you an idea of the confidence you can have in the forecast.
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Cyclopath Faster than light
Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Posts: 7731 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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Cyclopath
Faster than light
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Wed Jun 03, 2020 1:06 pm
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Does anybody know where Garmin Connect gets its forecasts?
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Hiker Mama Member
Joined: 25 Jun 2006 Posts: 3451 | TRs | Pics Location: Lynnwood |
I like the National Weather Service mobile app. I use weather.gov for forecasts on my computer.
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Navy salad Member
Joined: 09 Sep 2008 Posts: 1865 | TRs | Pics Location: Woodinville |
texasbb wrote: | And yes, different kinds of forecast (hourly, daily summary, medium term, long term) will give different predictions. |
An example of what I'm talking about is my current App may say the full day forecast is 0% chance of rain tomorrow. I take that to mean the prediction is no measurable rain at all the whole day. And yet, when I look at the hourly forecast for tomorrow, it may say 30% chance of rain between 10AM and 11AM. Are you saying that's normal?
And thanks for the many suggestions!
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texasbb Misplaced Texan
Joined: 30 Mar 2009 Posts: 1153 | TRs | Pics Location: Tri-Cities, WA |
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texasbb
Misplaced Texan
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Wed Jun 03, 2020 2:52 pm
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Navy salad wrote: | texasbb wrote: | And yes, different kinds of forecast (hourly, daily summary, medium term, long term) will give different predictions. |
An example of what I'm talking about is my current App may say the full day forecast is 0% chance of rain tomorrow. I take that to mean the prediction is no measurable rain at all the whole day. And yet, when I look at the hourly forecast for tomorrow, it may say 30% chance of rain between 10AM and 11AM. Are you saying that's normal? |
It's certainly not abnormal. I'm not any kind of meteorologist or weather forecaster, but I did other kinds of modeling for 35 years, and it's often easier to find good data to drive assumptions for "bulk" predictions (e.g., daily summaries) than for detailed (e.g., hourly) values. It can sometimes work the other way too, but regardless, you have different models with different inputs of different reliability.
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TheWaterboy Hike-2-Hike
Joined: 31 Dec 2018 Posts: 37 | TRs | Pics Location: Everett |
Weatherbug, Mountain Weather Forecast, and NOAA. Take the average of all three.
As I saw 2 other people say, a forecast is still just a statistical inference of what might happen. NOAA is usually the most accurate since they have the most data points to work with.
Most weather data in the US comes from NOAA and is shared with weather broadcasts around the country.
The only thing is, if an app or news channel differs from NOAA then they have included data NOAA did not have access too.
The more reports you look through, and average out, the closer to the real answer you'll get. Find as many as you can and average them out starting 2-3 days before a trip. It works for me 90% of the time.
[Mountains] are the cathedrals where I practice my religion - Anatoli Boukreev
Hike2Hike.com, because we all just live from Hike to Hike.
[Mountains] are the cathedrals where I practice my religion - Anatoli Boukreev
Hike2Hike.com, because we all just live from Hike to Hike.
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Navy salad Member
Joined: 09 Sep 2008 Posts: 1865 | TRs | Pics Location: Woodinville |
Thanks all for your input and suggestions!
To answer questions, I'm using an Android phone. I'll give Windy a try, since I've heard many good things about it.
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