Which weather app?

[gary756]

just wondering what weather apps people are using. I've got clear outside and BBC weather sre there any others? 

Are there any that go more than a couple of weeks? Bit of big ask with uk weather, but surly it can't stay cloudy forever!!

[barkingsteve]

I use clear outside, met check weather and met office cloud cover. Usually one of them is correct 😕  no point going beyond a few days, let alone a few weeks, predictions are nowhere near accurate.

https://www.metcheck.com/WEATHER/now_and_next.asp?zipcode=Barking&locationID=57900&lat=51.5&lon=0.1

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/uk-cloud-cover-forecast/#?tab=map&map=Cloud&zoom=5&lon=-4.00&lat=55.74&fcTime=1594245600

[gary756]

I know just being optimistic, have found a CL caravan site in a dark sky area near home. Hoping to find an app that could go a couple of weeks a head. Last time we went to kelder it hoof it down all weekend. 

[johninderby]

There are no good weather apps.....period.

 I gave up on Clear Outside as it wasn’t even close for my area most of the time.

[carastro]

Agree, just lately they can't even get the weather right on the same day!!!!!

I use Yr.NO, BBC Weather, Clear Outside, if 2 of them are saying the same thing and it's not too far in advance, it's tends to be reasonably accurate, but how can several weather forecasts be saying different things in any case?

Carole 

[DeathWarpedUp]

1 hour ago, gary756 said:

....but surly it can't stay cloudy forever!!

ut-oh

Don't repeat that 3 times in a row!

[johninderby]

Yes you could just use a number of apps and choose the forecast that you like the best. 😁😁😁😁

[Mangifigeek]

14 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Yes you could just use a number of apps and choose the forecast that you like the best. 😁😁😁😁

I am relatively new to astronomy, but that is the approach I take! Other apps I use on Android include "Good to Stargaze" and "Weather and Radar". I find the "Weather and Radar" quite good - useful showing the radar images. I only found out about "Clear Outside" this week, so early days for me.

[AbsolutelyN]

Not an app but I find this site brilliant to keep an eye out for showers when the weather is not perfect:
https://www.netweather.tv/live-weather/radar

[DeathWarpedUp]

4 minutes ago, Mangifigeek said:

I am relatively new to astronomy, but that is the approach I take! Other apps I use on Android include "Good to Stargaze" and "Weather and Radar". I find the "Weather and Radar" quite good - useful showing the radar images. I only found out about "Clear Outside" this week, so early days for me.

Clear outside is more of a wake up and check if tonights a no go or not kind of deal.

[banjaxed]

42 minutes ago, gary756 said:

I know just being optimistic, have found a CL caravan site in a dark sky area near home. Hoping to find an app that could go a couple of weeks a head. Last time we went to kelder it hoof it down all weekend. 

I don't think ANYONE can predict the weather more than a few hours in advance. If you follow any weather forecast you will find it changes every few hours. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being optimistic  😀

[rnobleeddy]

Dark Sky is brilliant for local weather, although clearly it's impossible to get the weather forecast correct all the time. It's much better to think of weather in terms of probability - you can't know if it's definitely going to rain tomorrow night, but you can say there's a 50% chance.

Unfortunately Dark Sky was bought by Apple and isn't going to be available on Android past the end of this month. 

[DeathWarpedUp]

Try and work to the principle of how much stargazing you want to do, even on semi cloudy nights you could may get an hour or two in.

Try and treat setting up your scope like a forumla 1 pitstop. Streamline as much as possible, do a dummy run in daylight when you have time to think about what you are doing so you're not picking through this and that in the dark. Work out what needs to come outside and what doesnt (be realistic) and organise for different scenarious, get a waterproof cover.

None of these will drive the clouds away, but they will stop the whole "wasting my time" feeling that emerges when the weather in the Uk does what its famous for.

Edited July 9, 2020 by DeathWarpedUp

[gary756]

Thanks everyone will have a look the suggestions over the weekend. Ive been so sick of the rubbish night-time weather I bought a solar filter. Since that arrived daytime weather has been pants too. 

[DeathWarpedUp]

I know stellarium ect are cool apps, but this one I always find convienent as it helps plan down to the hour on various targets, stops me wasting time https://telescopius.com/

[Daf1983]

I've mainly been using Clear Outside, Met Office and Good To Gaze. What I've found over the past month (I'm very new to this), is that they're fairly useless at predicting anything over a day or so ahead (if that!). But that maybe because the weather is particularly changeable and unpredictable at the minute. 

I've been looking forward to get my scope out this weekend all week, because Clear Outside showed clear night for Friday and Saturday! Checked again this morning and is changed for the worse☹️ Haven't had a clear night for almost 4 weeks 

[Robindonne]

I once installed skylive for ios.  Cant really judge and compare them with others.  I think most of the apps have a common source.  Somehow i like the layout of this app but thats maybe because im very inexperienced!

I added a screenshot i send to someone   Its from the good old days

 

oh and i must say its very accurate lately. It shows a 0% in visibility😕

Edited July 9, 2020 by Robindonne

[gary756]

1 minute ago, Daf1983 said:

I've been looking forward to get my scope out this weekend all week, because Clear Outside showed clear night for Friday and Saturday! Checked again this morning and is changed for the worse☹️ Haven't had a clear night for almost 4 weeks 

I saw that and was getting excited for the weekend. Was planning to drag my son off to the dales for some dark sky stuff. Haven't had chance to check today so hadnt seen it had changed.  Looks like it could be another weekend hanging out the bedroom windows looking for a break in the clouds.

[Daf1983]

5 minutes ago, gary756 said:

I saw that and was getting excited for the weekend. Was planning to drag my son off to the dales for some dark sky stuff. Haven't had chance to check today so hadnt seen it had changed.  Looks like it could be another weekend hanging out the bedroom windows looking for a break in the clouds.

It's happened a few times over the past month as well! I'm desperate to have a look at Satrun and Jupiter for the first time now they're up at a reasonable(ish) hour, but no luck so far😡

[Chefgage]

I use XC weather and clear outside. I like the XC weather app as it shows the cloud cover in a percentage format.

[JTEC]

I like Meteoblue and find it about as accurate in the short term as you can get. As someone said, the data source is prob the same as used by many other apps so differences may be largely presentational.

[old_eyes]

+1 for Meteoblue astronomical seeing site https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/outdoorsports/seeing/greenwich_united-kingdom_2647937. The free site only gives you a three-day look ahead, but beyond that you only get general trends from any forecast..

[Tenor Viol]

Unfortunately, the UK 'benefits' from an inherently unstable weather system - we are not part of a continental weather system like say mainland Europe or North America for example. This translates to long periods of stable and predictable weather patterns are in fact rare.

We have experienced both recently. The fine weather we had in April/May was an example of a stable continental weather system. We have now morphed to the other extreme of the jet stream lobbing Atlantic depressions at us at 72 hour intervals (this pattern is common in June/July and is sometimes referred to as 'European Monsoon' - it's not a 'monsoon' but the pattern of unstable weather is a feature of it).

The thing you need for a forecast are: lots and lots of data, a good computer model, enormous computer power. Forecasting models get better all the time and more data is available than ever before, but accuracy down to regional level (let alone local) requires vastly more data points than is realistically achievable. In a stable weather pattern it is possible to give a decent forecast a week ahead, but usually about 3 days ahead. In an unstable pattern (like now) 12 hours ahead can be difficult to forecast  

[Second Time Around]

I use 6 different web sites/apps.  They all have their advantages.

Met Office - updated frequently, shows wind gusts, surface pressure charts

BBC - well-explained monthly long range forecast

Meteoblue - Astro forecast 3 days ahead on free version, Multimodel gives alternative forecasts, lots of maps

Wunderground - love the graphical option, especially hourly cloud cover and dewpoint! 

Meteoradar - past and forecast radar rainfall, past and forecast satellite clouds and sunshine (unfortunately not nighttime cloud)

Clear Outside - Astro forecast 7 days ahead

Edited July 15, 2020 by Second Time Around

[PEMS]

I use Meteoblue and The Weather Outlook. MB has an Astronomy weather option in there somewhere.

One thing you will realise is that they perform an update at about 6 hour intervals. So in 6 hours time the model used can predict a different result. Not massive but different. That High Pressure system for clear skies is push a little away from you and so you get a weather front of warm/cold air over you so cloud. Very easy and with 6 hours updates does mean somewhat strangely that these higher accuracy forecast are very changeable.