Choosing a Weather App

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Image shows several different types of weather, from lightning to a beautiful sunset, to afternoon sun and clouds There are lots of weather apps available in app stores today, each with its loyal followers. However, choosing a weather app involves more than just considering its design or available widgets and smartwatch complications. The most crucial factor is the data sources an app uses. App developers have to pay for their weather data, and that data isn’t cheap. Therefore, good apps must decide between displaying in-app ads or charging a purchase/subscription fee. Don’t let that deter you; accuracy is important.

How Do You Know Which Data Source Is Most Accurate?

ForecastAdvisor is a valuable resource for determining which data source has historically been more accurate for your location. For example, in my area, the top three sources in terms of accuracy for November 2023 were Microsoft, The Weather Channel, and AerisWeather.

Local News/Weather Apps

In the United States, every major television market has an app featuring news and weather for the area. Forecasts are curated by meteorologists who know the area and can provide the highest level of accuracy. The problem is that these apps are poorly designed, frustrating to use, and have poor widget and watch support, if they have these features at all.

What Options Are There?

In the iOS App Store, there isn’t a weather app (that I am aware of) that offers Microsoft as a data source. Therefore, I have to choose an app that offers The Weather Channel as a data source.

CARROT is probably the iOS community’s favorite weather app, and I do love it. In terms of features and customization options, no other weather app comes close. However, since I’m looking for accuracy and CARROT does not currently offer The Weather Channel as a data source, I prefer to use other apps.

Weather Underground and Hello Weather are two apps that use data from The Weather Channel. Weather Underground lacks widget or watch support, but the app itself is well-designed. Hello Weather is a beautiful app.

Based on the availability of the most accurate data sources, here is a list of weather apps you might choose. There are privacy concerns with some of these apps, so keep reading below.

Privacy

The indie apps CARROT, Hello Weather, and Mercury all respect users’ privacy. Apple Weather, of course, follows Apple’s privacy policy. But the corporate weather apps AccuWeather, The Weather Channel, and WUnderground all track users heavily. If privacy is something you’re interested in (and it should be), I suggest staying away from these apps.

And the Winner Is…

When we combine the need for both accuracy and privacy, creating a list of viable weather apps becomes easy.

🥇Hello Weather
🥈CARROT
🥉Mercury and Apple Weather

As you can see from the list above, Hello Weather is the champion of providing users more data sources known for their accuracy. CARROT comes in a close second. Apple’s weather data may, in time, prove very accurate; it’s too soon to tell. But given that the Weather app is a part of Apple’s overall privacy policy, I would use it and Mercury before I used any of the corporate options, at least in their app form. Accessing the AccuWeather, The Weather Channel, and Weather Underground websites in a privacy-centric browser like Firefox or Safari should be relatively safe, so that’s an option.

Good Enough?

Most weather apps are going to be close enough on the forecast accuracy for most people. If app features are important, maybe accepting “close enough” is perfectly acceptable. If I were willing to do that, I could actually go with CARROT because AerisWeather is available as a data source. I mentioned earlier that, for November 2023, AerisWeather was the third most accurate data source. But for all of 2022, AerisWeather was fifth on the list, so there’s some fluctuation there. However, The Weather Channel is perpetually in the top three accurate data sources and, for now, that’s where I land.

Why Not Apple Weather?

Apple’s weather app used to use The Weather Channel for its data source. Now, Apple either uses its own data, or they no longer disclose where they gather their data from. Mercury Weather is an app that has garnered a lot of attention recently because it’s a beautiful app. It uses Apple’s weather data. Since I don’t know where Apple sources its data, I’m not willing to rely on it just yet.

A Big Surprise

In the United States, one might think that the National Weather Service would be one of the most accurate sources for forecasts. Surprisingly, the NWS ranks seventh (yikes!) on the list for November 2023 and sixth for 2022 overall. I might as well flip a coin or use a Magic 8 Ball.

2025 update: The Trump administration is stormtrooper-ing its way through the US federal government, firing tens of thousands of employees. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association alone suffered hundreds of firings of weather forecasters and other employees. This will have a negative impact on the quality of weather forecasts available not only from the NWS but other sources that rely on data from the NWS. (Hint: they all do!).

Conclusion

Choosing a preferred weather app then comes down to deciding what features you need and how important having the most accurate forecast is. And that choice might change from season to season. If you live in an area that gets snow, knowing whether the next system is going to bring a cold rain or an inch of snow is an important distinction; you’ll want pinpoint accuracy. However, during rainy season, it may not matter to you whether you get an inch of rain or an inch and a half of rain. Accuracy becomes a little less important; you know it’s going to rain and the difference in the amount is negligible.

Thoughts