Reply To: Weather App

[David C Rayment]

I also use Clear Outside and find it generally has good accuracy, but it has been a bit hit and miss over the last few months. That is perhaps not surprising as the weather at times has been very changeable. I use it mainly for photography and so am looking at the level of cloud cover, not just clear skies. High cloud is my friend, as is drizzle at times, but low cloud on the western horizon certainly is not if I want to photograph something with an eastern aspect at sunset. It is therefore important to me to know not only the level of cloud cover but also the direction the cloud is coming from. To this end I use Clear Outside alongside Windy (Windy.com) before deciding whether or not to make the journey to where I want to go. From an astronomy point of view an app may show a lot of cloud cover but if it is clear (or clearing) in the west and you want to observe in the west, then a lot of cloud may not be a problem at the time you want to observe. Accuracy is of course improved the nearer you are to the critical time. Both apps are free to use with the option of subscribing to the premium version if extra features are required.