App Name: Weatherbug by Weatherbug Mobile
Description: WeatherBug is a free, ad-supported weather app providing users access to the largest network of professional weather stations. Get current conditions, forecasts, maps and severe weather alerts.
How it works: Weatherbug gives you the weather details in your area based on multiple locations such as high schools, and airports. You can also have more than one location saved in case you want to know weather in another place like a cabin in Northern Minnesota so you can know what it will like for the Labor Day weekend while you still hanging in the Twin Cities.
Weatherbug lets you know the current temperature and keeps it in your notification bar and then if you want the details you can get them right from the app. From the main screen you can get the current temp, a compass to show wind speed and direction, the high and low temps and how much rain for the day and gives a short day forecast and 5 day extended forecast.
There four main buttons at the bottom of the app — for the 5 day detailed forecast, pics from nearby weather stations, the map of your area and a ‘more’ button which is for live observations of the day like temperature, rain totals, wind info, sunrise and sunset, humidity and pressure readings. You can also a question mark button which explains some of the options available with Weatherbug like changing from Fahrenheit to Celsius or managing locations. A pollen info section which is great for allergy sufferers and also a video weather cast for your area.
With the 5 day forecast you can sideswipe and get additional details for each day and another swipe to get a hourly detail for the specific day you swipe.
The map can be zoomed in and out just like Google maps and has options to show animated radar and you can add Google layers like satellite or traffic and change the opacity of the weather to make it easier to see the cities underneath or darker to see how strong of a rain or snowstorm you’re getting.
Weatherbug also has a widget that allows you to change its color so you can match it with your current wallpaper.
Opinion: Weatherbug has been my mainstay weather app since I got my phone. I tried others but Weatherbug is consistantly had the most accurate weather and worked the best for me. I like having a widget I can just glance at for the info I need without having to go into the app to just get the temperature.
Ratings:
- Speed (4/5) – Tabs from the main page more quickly, swiping to get more details in the forecast is seamless.
- Features (5/5) – More than enough weather info and a animated radar map is a plus.
- Theme (3/5)- I wish I could get rid of the bright blue when you pull up the app, but it is a clean UI.
- Overall (4/5) – Weatherbug gives the best weather info and with a widget a radar on the map you are at arms length to getting your weather for the next 5 days.
Pro:
- Animated radar
- Customizable Widget
- Hourly info for each day of the 5 day forecast
Cons:
- The blue color of the app is almost a bit garish for me.
Conclusion: Weatherbug has been the only weather app for me and I haven’t regreted a moment and haven’t been caught unaware of bad weather coming either.