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Why Apple's weather app is so bad

3 points by cainxinth 3y ago

cainxinth 3y ago
Answer: Overreliance on algorithms interpreting data from models like the Global Forecast System (GFS), which can be imprecise. Terrain also affects the app's performance, with better results in flat, predictable climates than in varied topographies.
PaulHoule 3y ago
I can't understand why people need anything more than https://www.weather.gov/ https://www.weather.gov/ I mean, that radar is pretty amazing with no ads. As for rain: it is a bit of a bummer to go to a football game with an umbrella and you can only hear the away team's fans cheering because they planned ahead to be there but the fans of the home team decided it wasn't a beautiful day to sit in the stadium. I am punching my sports photo card so I go regardless. (This weekend I expect to drive for a few hours and brave 0.1 inch of rain to get photos of a varsity rugby game even it means missing the rugby world cup finals..) There was that time in grad school when I went out for a long walk got friends and we got stopped by a cop walking out of a railyard who asked what we were doing "going for a walk" and he said "there's nothing to see out there" and I said "to the contrary... we saw three really big christmas light displays, we saw the Army Corp of Engineers dredging the canal, and ..." he asked "the weather is pretty nasty" and I suddenly realized it was raining and replied "it's not that bad and it wasn't raining when we set out"
_mitterpach 3y ago
“Not knowing whether it’s going to rain in an hour? I would say that’s just being fussy about where the peas are on your plate,” Stine said. “It’s an incredible technological achievement to know that it’s going to rain at all this week. I grew up in a world where weather prediction was not accurate. We didn’t have enough data. But over my lifetime, the skill of weather prediction has increased pretty astoundingly.” This answer... does not seem to actually answer the question. I do agree that the technology has improved significantly, and knowing whether it's going to rain in an hour is often a matter of looking out of the window, I still think that the Weather app on iOS is one of Apple's worst ones. They apparently even aquired a competitor (Dark Sky) but the features of their competitor are not really implemented at all. On a side note, I've been recommended https://merrysky.net/ https://merrysky.net/ on HN before and it's been a wonder.
beardyw 3y ago
For the next half an hour in the UK I use weather radar. https://www.netweather.tv/live-weather/radar https://www.netweather.tv/live-weather/radar Not sure if it works anywhere else. If you can see the rain coming it makes more sense.
tompark 3y ago
I used Dark Sky for years before the acquisition (my iTunes receipt says I bought it Apr 2015). I loved its UI, and while it gave very precise predictions, its accuracy was not great. When it came to rain prediction of start/stop times, I repeatedly found that other apps were more accurate, and the reason I know this is because my gf and I walk outside everyday, and during the winter rain season we'd compare forecasts from our phones. Hers was more accurate most of the time, and Dark Sky was outright wrong very often. But I continued to use Dark Sky because the UI was great at showing the hourly sun/temp conditions (accurate enough) at a glance, and it doesn't rain often in SF so the accuracy of rain predictions wasn't important to me. Also I'd paid for it: no adverts, no subscription. It seemed weird to me that Apple acquired Dark Sky's poor rain prediction but didn't use the best part of Dark Sky's UI. Worst of both worlds.

3 points by cainxinth 3y ago

Answer: Overreliance on algorithms interpreting data from models like the Global Forecast System (GFS), which can be imprecise. Terrain also affects the app's performance, with better results in flat, predictable climates than in varied topographies.

PaulHoule 3y ago

I can't understand why people need anything more than https://www.weather.gov/ https://www.weather.gov/ I mean, that radar is pretty amazing with no ads. As for rain: it is a bit of a bummer to go to a football game with an umbrella and you can only hear the away team's fans cheering because they planned ahead to be there but the fans of the home team decided it wasn't a beautiful day to sit in the stadium. I am punching my sports photo card so I go regardless. (This weekend I expect to drive for a few hours and brave 0.1 inch of rain to get photos of a varsity rugby game even it means missing the rugby world cup finals..) There was that time in grad school when I went out for a long walk got friends and we got stopped by a cop walking out of a railyard who asked what we were doing "going for a walk" and he said "there's nothing to see out there" and I said "to the contrary... we saw three really big christmas light displays, we saw the Army Corp of Engineers dredging the canal, and ..." he asked "the weather is pretty nasty" and I suddenly realized it was raining and replied "it's not that bad and it wasn't raining when we set out"

_mitterpach 3y ago

“Not knowing whether it’s going to rain in an hour? I would say that’s just being fussy about where the peas are on your plate,” Stine said. “It’s an incredible technological achievement to know that it’s going to rain at all this week. I grew up in a world where weather prediction was not accurate. We didn’t have enough data. But over my lifetime, the skill of weather prediction has increased pretty astoundingly.” This answer... does not seem to actually answer the question. I do agree that the technology has improved significantly, and knowing whether it's going to rain in an hour is often a matter of looking out of the window, I still think that the Weather app on iOS is one of Apple's worst ones. They apparently even aquired a competitor (Dark Sky) but the features of their competitor are not really implemented at all. On a side note, I've been recommended https://merrysky.net/ https://merrysky.net/ on HN before and it's been a wonder.

beardyw 3y ago

For the next half an hour in the UK I use weather radar. https://www.netweather.tv/live-weather/radar https://www.netweather.tv/live-weather/radar Not sure if it works anywhere else. If you can see the rain coming it makes more sense.

tompark 3y ago

I used Dark Sky for years before the acquisition (my iTunes receipt says I bought it Apr 2015). I loved its UI, and while it gave very precise predictions, its accuracy was not great. When it came to rain prediction of start/stop times, I repeatedly found that other apps were more accurate, and the reason I know this is because my gf and I walk outside everyday, and during the winter rain season we'd compare forecasts from our phones. Hers was more accurate most of the time, and Dark Sky was outright wrong very often. But I continued to use Dark Sky because the UI was great at showing the hourly sun/temp conditions (accurate enough) at a glance, and it doesn't rain often in SF so the accuracy of rain predictions wasn't important to me. Also I'd paid for it: no adverts, no subscription. It seemed weird to me that Apple acquired Dark Sky's poor rain prediction but didn't use the best part of Dark Sky's UI. Worst of both worlds.