March 15, 2012 What's On Binary's iPad - Weather

I am a weather nut. Had the college curriculum been one semester different I would have pursued a career in meteorology. Instead I am a super computer freak. Anyway, the iPad is my mobile weather station. I have many more weather apps at my disposal than I will list here, but these are my top 5 favorites.

AccuWeather - This app has a free and paid version. I use the free one because I don't care about the ads and I use AccuWeather primarily for the temp forecasts. It's a clean, slick app, loads fast, smooth interface and it's easy to use. The radar is just ok, it will tell you is precipitation is on the way but not much else. The video forecasts for the country are a nice feature but I don't use that much at all. I find the forecasts for temps are pretty accurate out to about two days, but their long term forecast past that changes dramatically daily. Aside from those flaws, I like this app for a quick and easy basic weather info.

MyRadar is one of the best radar apps out there. It's no frills, to the point, weather radar. Easy to read, animated and concise. The free version has ads the run along the bottom in a non-obtrusive way. The pro version removes the add and there is a weather warning add on to show warnings in your area and push alerts out as they come up. I don't use this feature as I am signed up for mobile alerts through the weather channel. If you need a simple to read, high detail weather radar MyRadar is it. I haven't found one better that is built for the average user.

RadarScope is the next level weather radar. This is a $9.99 app but if you are a weather nut, it's worth it. This is a full fledged Doppler radar app. You can pull up many different kinds of radar scans. It has real Level 3 data from any US NEXRAD station including the velocity data. MyRadar will show you there is a storm over your head, RadarScope will tell you the velocity of the storm and over lay warning boxes to give you the most accurate radar information I can find outside of the NOAA offices. If you watch Storm Chasers I have seen RadarScope on their phones as they chase tornadoes.

Weather Channel app is the staple of the weather apps. This is an app you just have to have. It has all the features of the other apps, but it's from the weather channel. I use this in conjunction with the others for basic forecasts and occasional videos, but it's not one of my primary tools. I have it on here because when it comes to weather you almost have to.

KMSP Fox9 Weather This is the weather app from the local news team. I love this app because it has everything. The radar is great, good forecasts and temperature trends by the hour. Very detailed locally, as I would expect from a local app, and the 10 day forecast has a short verbal description where most apps are just temps. Whatever company makes this app for them has also done so for other markets, check your area and I bet you'd find one close. If not, use this one, you can put any national city in and it will give you the same details. Great app!

There you go. If you are a weather nut here are some great apps when you are being sky aware.

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Posted in: iPad,Weather