Despite earlier conspiracies, the rollout of the 5G wireless network shouldn’t ruin these weather forecasts. As it stands, we'll assume that if a company has invested the time and effort to create its own predictive models for something as complex as weather, then it probably knows more about meteorology than we do.įor what it's worth, the apps were all quite accurate during testing. We're simply not set up to tackle that kind of challenge. Second, and more importantly, to really determine the accuracy of the service's model, we'd have to perform exhaustive tests across the globe. The Weather Channel and a few other companies have their own predictive models, but many apps are just shells into which data flows. Some also pull their predictions from AccuWeather, or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Our reasons are twofold: First, most weather apps get the bulk of their data from the National Weather Service. What we didn't look for is whether or not the predicted weather came to pass. If you have to dig through several screens to find out when it's going to rain, the app is off to a bad start. An ideal weather app is visually pleasing and easy to use. When testing weather apps, we spent most of our time evaluating the effectiveness of their design.

A weather app lets you do that wherever you are, whenever you like. With wild weather across the country, particularly hurricanes threatening coastal states, it's a good idea to check the forecast or radar for upcoming conditions. A good weather app helps you decide if you'll need to bring an umbrella to work, or prepare for more serious conditions. One of the most important tools for that is a mobile weather app. When Mother Nature is in a bad mood (which is more likely than ever these days thanks to climate change), it helps to keep an eye on what's happening in the sky.

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