BobbyG

...the Weather Underground Android app that is.
The best, most comprehensive, most user-friendly, best loved weather app for android was bought by IBM who immediately replaced it with a completely different, less useful and less comprehensive app that is obsfucated by ads...
...AND HAS NO DESKTOP WIDGET!
That's how I discovered WU had changed...my desktop widget stopped.

Even if you don't use or care about the Weather Undergound app, you may enjoy a chilling reminder to not fix what ain't broke. It's also fascinating how badly a large company can screw up an acquisition. My only guess is that IBM bought it to kill it; but instead of just shutting it down, wanted to make users abandon it instead.
I am including the link to the Google Play review page so you can read all the criticism, it is breath-taking.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ather&hl=en_US

For what it's worth, I am now using Meteored 14-Day weather, which does everything WU did, and in some cases Meteored does it better. The ad-free pro version was a one-time $3 purcase, whereas the "new" Weather Underground app wants you to sign up for a $20 annual subscription to access all the features that once were free, and some people say no longer exist.

...and Meteored has a desktop widget!

When Meteored opens you can immediately see the Sky conditions (sun/clouds/precip) the % chance of precip, the expected amount of precip, wind direction and speed. One more touch takes you to teven more details, while a swipe down gives you the hourly breakdown including an additional hourly graph.

All cleanly, clearly, concisely presented!

Here's that link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...iempo&hl=en_US

Steve B.

Nice app, thanks, works on iOS as well, worth the $3

Koyote

I like the Dark Sky app. Don't know if there is a desktop version, but the version for my iPhone is free, and it's specialty is predicting rain right down to the minute - which is useful for a cyclist.

Sy Reene

For cycling weather, Epic Ride is a great app.. though a bit pricey at $8/yr. It gives the weather all along a route you choose for the time of day you're expected to be at various points on the route (based on whatever avg speed and start time you enter). Runs off of Darksky's weather data, which is it's own app and very good straightforward app that costs a lot less.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/epic-r...r/id1159726753

wolfchild

Why would anybody pay for weather apps when you can get free local weather report through google or a local news station ??

Troul 

I used 1 app a long time ago that I paid for [don't remember the name of it] & it ended up "changing" to a craptastic less accurate app & infiltrating my device with bloatware/spam. After having other apps that I paid for going the same direction, I just don't bother buying apps unless I absolutely accept the risk of it going to the E-Dumpster eventually.
Having internet/data & checking weather without an app has been working for me, & often works out better, just takes a few extra seconds of clicking/scrolling. Realistically, weather is hardly accurate after 4 hours from its prediction time, so it's a roll of the dice whether the weather is going to be what it is after a certain point.

bpcyclist

I juar use Accuweather before I head out. It has everything--all kinds of sattelite images and radar and ten-day or hourly foreceasts. It works just fine for me.

308jerry

Have to agree WU sux after it updated. I'll check out your link. Thanks....

one4smoke

“ Everyone Complains About the Weather”

These days, everyone complains about everything!

See.

Marcus_Ti

Well.... The Weather Company AKA The Weather Channel bought them out in 2012....the app went downhill shortly after 2012 when TWC bought them out. In 2015 IBM bought The Weather Company, but not The Weather Channel.

No app, just a website: https://darksky.net/

canklecat

Ruining perfectly good weather apps seems to be a specialty for programmers. I've stopped using a few weather apps over the years after redesigns made them worse instead of better. I don't mind different if it works, but different for the sake of cosmetics at the cost of functionality is annoying.

For awhile I've used Dark Sky on my Android phone, but WeatherBug on my tablets and older iPhone.

The paid version of Dark Sky is excellent for the most current, most local forecasts (they call it micro-local, I think). But it's not a great interface and requires too much tapping and scrolling around. There's no one-page at-a-glance option. And the free trial version is useless. Don't judge Dark Sky on the trial version. It's so crippled you won't get any hint of the most current and local forecasts. I ponied up the few bucks for the past year and will renew.

For planning bike rides my favorite by far is Windy. It's usually as accurate and up to date as Dark Sky, with better at-a-glance layout, and a graphic representation of wind conditions. That's a huge plus for cyclists. I often plan my attempts at Strava PRs around the wind conditions, or choose a bike and clothing to suit the wind that day. And the graphical presentation is far more useful than the familiar unidirectional estimates. It doesn't help much if one forecast says "wind 7 mph from NW with gusts to 15" when we get out on the road the wind seems to be coming from every direction. But Windy will show why -- often the wind really is swirling around and can't be accurately described by the unidirectional method.

BobbyG

I understand where you're coming from, however, google only mentions expected chance of precipitation, not the expected rainfall. A 90% chance of.001 inch of rain is not an issue, but a 90% chance of 2" of rain is.

Also, if your local news is like ours, they try to sensationalize the weather as much as possible. Especially snow. Here in Colorado Springs it will snow heavily and often in the foothills and mountains above 7000ft, but barely snow 500ft below that, here in town. And then they will include the far reaches of their service area where no one lives so they can say, "20-inches of snow possible tomorrow" when in fact, that will only occur 100 miles away above 10,000 feet, which will affect no more than 5 people.

Plus, a one-time $3 payment is worth it to pull a phone out of my pocket and see a comprehensive weather forcast at the instant I want it.

RidingMatthew

i used to use wunderground and loved it. I did not know it was bought by IBM. Sometime i switched from iOS to Android and downloaded the app. when i try to check the weather before commuting in the morning and the ad covers the entire screen and plays sounds. I decided to dump it... especially when it woke my wife up too

Koyote

I wonder if Dark Sky is better for iPhones than Android? I have the former and find it to be very usable. Though it was screwed up a bit in the last major update.

Thanks for the tip on Windy. I will check that out.

bobwysiwyg

Couldn't agree more. As for sensationalizing the weather, these days it seems every low-pressure system gets a name.

DougRNS

don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows.

atwl77

Yes, I agree the update has made WU terrible. I like Darksky but it isn't available in the Play store for my region. I also use the MSN Weather app but not for the forecasts, the chance of precipitation seems way inflated, but they have a nice precipitation map view which predicts regional rain for the next 12 hours so I can watch the moving blobs of colour and make my own informed decision.

skidder

IBM bought Weather Underground and incorporated it into their consulting services business. Weather info is pretty valuable to business sectors like agriculture, airlines, shipping companies (to name a few), and it was easier for them to buy the software rather than try and create it from scratch. They don't really make much $$$ through their computer hardware anymore (just supercomputers), they now sell computer services and management consulting services to other companies.

FWIW: I just use the NOAA site (weather.gov) which seems pretty accurate for my area. I just like to know if its going to rain or shine tomorrow, maybe when the rain will start (morning, afternoon, or evening is accurate enough for me), so I can better plan my cycling and other daily activities.

tgenec86

Weather Rock:

a dry rock means fair weather.
a wet rock means it's raining.
a dusty rock means a dust storm.
a swaying rock means it's windy.
a shadow under the rock means it's sunny.
a hot rock with a shadow under it means it's hot and sunny.
a cold rock with a shadow under it means it's cold and sunny.
if you can't see the rock it's either extremely cloudy, or night
a hazy rock means it's foggy
a white rock means it's snowing.
if the rock is jumping up and down, an
earthquake is upon us.
if the bottom of the rock is under water it's a flood.

And my rule of riding - generally I don't start a ride if it's raining unless it's a specific training ride or I'm committed to meeting someone. However - if it starts raining one minute after I start my ride, I ride. What I always used to tell my more "delicate" teammates - if you can't train in the rain, you can't race in the rain.

Oh - and Weatherbug is free and gives enough detail to get a general idea of what's happening. The biggest problem with ALL weather apps is they're only as good as the weather services prognostication about what they think might possibly happen sometime in the relative near future - sort of.

jgwilliams

Those of us in the UK are fortunate to have a weather app provided by the BBC which is both free and ad free. My understanding is that there are only two providers of the raw data in the UK so whichever app you use is going to come from one of those two sources. The free app on my Samsung watch is also pretty good but doesn't give wind speed and direction which, for a cyclist, is a bit of a handicap.

BobbyG

"Look out kid
It's somethin' you did
God knows when
But you're doing it again"

MoAlpha

Windy is about the best "free" app out there. I use on it, together with real-time data, and, of course, human expert interpretation, for offshore sailing and donate to the developers. It has a choice of models, including the ECMWF (European), which is the most accurate and is rarely available for free. It also allows you to look at all of its models in parallel to form your own consensus. It also gives you the geopotential height chart for a range of pressure surfaces, which is the most informative forecasting tool in the shed and not available in anything else below the professional level as far I know. The slider interface for all the maps is also really helpful. Add to that features like CAPE, sea temps, and wind speeds in knots (!) and you've got yourself a powerful and reliable tool for staying out of trouble.

I also pay for the ad-free version of Wunderground because, of the apps I've looked at or tried, I have found its model to be most accurate for local conditions It's a hybrid of ECMWF and other models. Most apps and the National Weather Service local forecasts rely on the GFS and NAM models, which have low resolution and simply aren't as accurate. If you look, for instance, at Dark Sky's US forecasting source, it's GFS.

Kapusta

Not all wether forecasts and UIs are equal.

While most (maybe all?) run off the same underlying data, forecasts based on that data can vary. I have found some sources more useful than others, and it can vary by region which is the best.

Also, UIs vary greatly. Some are easy and quick, with useful features and more detailed info if you want to dive deeper, others are a jumbled mess or give an overly simplified forecast.

So yeah, I’d pay a few bucks for a good app. Darksky used to be worth it, and the $5 I paid for it was well worth it for the few years I used it.

Now Darksky sucks IMO, both in terms of the interface, and also the forecasts (and even current weather) are really off where I now live.

MoAlpha

Important things to know with automated weather products are
1. what you're looking at;
2. where it came from—not the name of the app, but where the app gets its input;
3. what that source's limitations are;
4. not to rely on a single source when making a critical decision;
5. and to trust humans over machines.

rumrunn6

wasn't happy when wunderground acquired intellicast, but at least I can still access my favorite radar loop