Weather App

[Kevin West]

Any suggestions for good UK weather app relevant to astronomy. Cloud cover etc
Probably posted before but search didn’t find anything.
Kevin

[James Lancashire]

I use Clear Outside https://clearoutside.com/

[Grant Privett]

This quite good for cloud forecasts too….

https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/outdoorsports/seeing/salisbury_united-kingdom_2638664

[Kevin West]

Thanks James

[Kevin West]

Thanks Grant

[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.

[Kenneth Medcalf]

I recommend using a variety of apps and maintaining a level of mistrust for their accuracy. Meteoblue is fairly good at local forecast and provides satellite images for multiple countries. You can select / differentiate cloud layers which is helpful. Check the sources of the data (you can change this within the app to find more local data) but note this is often contradictory. I also use UK Met office with similar observations. Zoom Earth app gives a relatively contemporary satellite view and various forecast views. I find using the satellite live in conjunction with the forecast data gives a more accurate prediction. The update frequency of the other apps appears to be a reason for the inaccuracy.

[Author]

Posts