Weather App

[pfeifer1990]

What weather app is best to use while at WDW/Orlando area?

 

[k5xs]

The Weather Channel app.

It has all the features I want, and is free.

It does annoyingly ask you periodically to upgrade to the pay version, but the enhancements are marginal to my thinking.

 

[OKW Lover]

It doesn't matter. They are all wrong.

We are local and only bother looking at the forecast once a day just to see how likely it is to rain that day. Anything beyond that is just not very helpful.

 

[k5xs]

It doesn't matter. They are all wrong.

We are local and only bother looking at the forecast once a day just to see how likely it is to rain that day. Anything beyond that is just not very helpful.

I find elements of weather apps highly useful and reliable.

Real-time animated radar images can show you by the minute where a thunderstorm is, what direction it’s headed and when it is likely to hit your location.

Real-time lightning reports are equally useful to see where lightning is hitting at the moment.

Day-to-day forecasts for out-days are hit and miss but improve dramatically as the days get closer. Next-day forecasts are generally excellent.

 

[_19disnA]

Have been using the app called WeatherBug for the past couple of years and really like it. It's free and no annoying ads or popups to deal with. You can store various cities where you want to view the forecast (i.e. where you live and places you might travel/vacation). Has hourly forecasts and live radar weather map that lets you see approaching storms/bad weather. Forecast more then 2-3 days out are inaccurate no matter who is providing them. There are far too many random variables the can impact future weather. The future radar projections are also not very accurate and I don't bother using them.

There are probably hundreds of apps for weather, so you just need to find the one that works best for you. I can't see any value in paying for that, so just look around and see what is available. I find that things specifically formatted for the phone work way better then trying to view some website. Typically, the formats aren't compatible for phone use and/or the displays/word-wrapping gets all messed up.

 

[Suz333]

I use a local weather app at home, and the built in weather app on my phone for a general idea.

When I want more specific information beyond high/low, I use weather.gov. (Caution: most browsers will throw weather.com as the result; I usually have to type the full url.)

It shows the forecast for morning and evening, shows watches and warnings, and you can search the country by town&state or by zip code.

 

[EddieValiant]

Have been using the app called WeatherBug for the past couple of years and really like it. It's free and no annoying ads or popups to deal with. You can store various cities where you want to view the forecast (i.e. where you live and places you might travel/vacation). Has hourly forecasts and live radar weather map that lets you see approaching storms/bad weather. Forecast more then 2-3 days out are inaccurate no matter who is providing them. There are far too many random variables the can impact future weather. The future radar projections are also not very accurate and I don't bother using them.

There are probably hundreds of apps for weather, so you just need to find the one that works best for you. I can't see any value in paying for that, so just look around and see what is available. I find that things specifically formatted for the phone work way better then trying to view some website. Typically, the formats aren't compatible for phone use and/or the displays/word-wrapping gets all messed up.

I'm a Weatherbug fan too, really like their lightning tracker.

 

[_19disnA]

^^ I agree, easy to use and clearly shows the weather info I am most interested in. I stopped user some other older app when they changed the format and made looking at the weather needlessly complicated.

 

[Stratman50th]

I'm local and also a weather nerd. I use Fox 13 Skytower out of Tampa. I think the live radar app is the best of all I've tried. You can set it up to show moving thunderstorms, tornados, lightening strikes, emergency alerts and tropical storms. (There's a lot more it will monitor but I live in Central Florida and I really don't care about snowstorms). You can add other geographic locations, as well as zoom out to get a bigger picture of the weather patterns.
As others have said, you really can't predict Florida weather any longer than 3 days out. Then there's the pop up thunderstorms that form in the afternoons during the summer, (our rainy season runs from around June-ish to the end of September). About the same as hurricane season.
PS: There is no paid version and it does have adds. There's enough in the app that I find useful that I can overlook a few local adds.

 

[Mle8308]

I use Dark Sky, there is a one time fee of about $5. It alerts you when storms are approaching and it is very accurate. We've managed to get indoors at Disney ahead of the crowds when those afternoon thunderstorms approach!

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I have used Dark Sky going on 5,6 years now and love it