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Dark Sky goes Dark

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sxrxg:
So as the Dark Sky weather app, that was my go to rain radar, has been bought by Apple and will be removed from Android by the 1st of July, I have been investigating other weather apps for when we get to go and climb again. Below are the apps that I have decided to use, I hope that someone else finds them useful. Also if anyone has any other good weather apps to help stop wasted days of poor conditions (I am a time poor dad) then please let me know.

VentuSky - lovely looking rain radar with wind displayed at the same time. Data source is EURAD for the rain radar and ICON for the forecasts (this is run by DWD who are the German Metoffice) changing to the American GFS model at longer range.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.ackee.ventusky&hl=en_GB

FlowX - rain radar with cloud cover. Also has relative humidity and dew point overlays to the map available for free which maybe useful for assessing potential conditions in different areas. Not a radar all based on forecasts at either 6 or 12 hour intervals depending upon if you select the GFS American model or the CMC Canadian model, I currently am using the CMC model as even though it only updates every 12 hours it has a resolution of 15km instead of 25km and seems to be slightly more accurate.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.enzuredigital.weatherbomb&hl=en_GB

Metoffice - we all know the Metoffice, UK based forecasting. App is ok however i don't find the maps as nice to look at or as easy to use as some of the others.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.gov.metoffice.weather.android&hl=en_GB

BBC Weather Maps - no app for this just have a shortcut set up with a direct link to the website, this is a bit clunky however it lets me see the information i want. Data source is the MeteoGroup and can sometimes give slightly different forecasts to the MetOffice/others.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/map

Yr.no - only use to look at long range overviews when i don't want to consult a map and make a judgement myself. Data source is the Norwegian Metoffice equivalent. Generally pretty reliable forecasts and a very simple to use app.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=no.nrk.yr&hl=en_GB

Lopez:
I don't know what their mobile app is like, but since is not in your list i suggest having a look at meteoblue.

I use their web version a lot as there's a customisable app with 'radar' functionality for a first look, and then instead of depending on trusting just the one weather forecasting model, you can go to a specific location page and see the forecast from all models for that location so you can make the call with regards reliability of forecast and'or follow whicever model you think more accurate.

In a certain location's main page there's a host of useful stuff, from standard meteograms to rain radar, satellite/precipitation current and historical animation, etc
If the app turns out to be not great there's always the using it in-browser.

For example:

Radar map for the Scafell https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather-maps/scafell-pike_united-kingdom_2638454?variable=precipitation3h_cloudcover_pressure&level=surface&lines=none&mapcenter=54.4780N-3.0666&zoom=9

Multimodel for Scafell https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/forecast/multimodel/scafell-pike_united-kingdom_2638454

A 'where to go' function that you input location and radius and it points you to the places with the best weather https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/outdoorsports/where2go/scafell-pike_united-kingdom_2638454

And Scafell's page https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/week/scafell-pike_united-kingdom_2638454

tomtom:
I like snowradar. Which despite its name has a decent interface for the present (10 min ago) rain radar - the near model (basically interpolatijng where that rain goes based on trajectory) and then to a 5-6 day model with 2-3 hour outputs.

sdm:
I use a mixture of Metoffice, Yr.no and Weather Underground.

Overall, I have found this to be the most accurate combination for working out what is going on. I've tried plenty of others over the years and haven't found one single source that can accurately give you all the information you need.

I actually find that looking at the individual forecasts for lots of locations and building up a mental map is usually more useful than looking at rain radar maps. My standard procedure for a weekend in the peak is to start to look on Thursday and look at the forecast for a location on the Eastern Grit, Western Grit, Southern Grit, Eastern Lime, Central Lime and Churnet. I'll then narrow down locations if conditions are looking very marginal. I will occasionally look at radars after, but I've usually got all the information I need by then to know what is going on and which crags will have the best chance of good conditions.

Using this method, I have consistently been able to get out on weekends in good conditions on days when everyone else is complaining about the crap weather and resorting to training indoors. Even on this terrible winter, I climbed every single weekend except one where we decided not to bother with the drive. Two of those were days in slightly marginal conditions at Roche and Cademan but the rest were all good.

Metoffice:
Useful for an overall idea of the weather. Not as accurate in the past couple of years as it used to be. The app is decent and it takes 30 seconds to get a good overview of all of my saved locations. Overall, it is slightly pessimistic in terms of rainfall.

Yr.no:
Useful mainly for millimetres of rain. Will not give you info on things like fog/clag. Overall, it is slightly optimistic in terms of total rainfall expected. The app is decent if quite simple. The forecast doesn't have quite as much precision in terms of location as the others.
Its long term forecast uses a completely separate model to its hourly forecast. The long term forecast isn't at all accurate and isn't worth bothering with. Quite often, its long term forecast will be predicting entirely opposite conditions to those predicted by the Metoffice and Weather Underground (and, nearer the time, the yr.no hourly forecast). When the day comes around, it is nearly always the long term yr.no forecast that was wrong.

Weather Underground:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wunderground.android.weather
A caving focused forecast that gives you loads of detailed information. Great for working out which lime crags are likely to be dry on condensey days. The most pessimistic in terms of rainfall. The app is cumbersome, the UI sucks, but the info is useful.
Has the least inaccurate long term forecasts.

Adding in a quick browse of the UKC conditions page for the last 24 or 72 hours gives you a good idea of where has been dry too. If only they would let you save searches for the future.

I have in the past tried AccuWeather and BBC but their forecasts were rubbish, I might as well have just rolled a die and decided based on that.

chris j:
I like windy.com (both website and the android app). Good visual combination of overall map and local forecast.

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