Weather Geekiness

Back in June of 2007 I shared my family’s “weather prophet story”. To this day my mother still checks the weather via television and, if she sees anything at all stormy anywhere near her family, she picks up the phone to call her children and grandchildren. Mind you, prior to my sister Karen’s death in April, her eldest child was almost 65 years old! I will confess that it used to drive me bonkers. Then I realized she was just worried about us all and she was trying to take care of us.

To be completely honest, my nieces and nephews have surely noticed that when there is a severe weather warning they are likely to get a “keep an eye to the sky” text message from me. This of course is absolutely nothing at all like what my mother did and does! Nope, nope, entirely different. ;o)

Anyhoo, since we upgraded from flip phones to the iPhone 4s back in February, I have acquired a few weather apps. (All of these work on iPhones. Some have dedicated iPad versions and some are available for other platforms like Android.) Here are my favorites. They range from free to $1.99. Let the geekiness commence!

NECN WX
If you live in New England this New England Cable News product is a must have weather app. Every storm has us watching the radar on this one.

The Weather Channel
They were the trailblazer in cable weather news and therefore this app is appropriately snazzy with lots of useful features.

Weather Underground
This app is so full featured that for some it may feel overly busy. Definitely worth downloading to see if it meets your needs.

Solar
This is the pendulum swinging away from visual clutter. It is graphically clean and serene. It is very beautiful, with a slick interface but has all the basic weather info you need. (Thank you Morgan!)

These next three are not weather related but do involve our planet Earth!

World Clock
I have been using their website for ages so I was delighted to download the app. At a glance I can tell the time in London, Cape Town and Sydney!

iEphemeris Pro
I just wanted a good app to tell me what time sunrise and sunset was for every day. I could find it buried in some weather apps but then I found iEphemeris and I was sold. It also gives Moon and Sun information.

Shralp Tide
Type in a location and get the tides. We use this app whenever we’re headed out to do some beach combing. It is simple and elegant. Plus you can swipe through five days at a time.

That’s how I get my weather geek on. Let me know if there is something out there that I need to explore!