Free Version Mobile Weather App Options: Recommendations and Selecting the Good Ones

 

Features to look for

Not all weather apps are programmed equally. Some apps will provide delayed forecasts while others will use unauthorized branded names. In the weather biz, timing is everything. Be on the lookout for timestamps on maps, radars, satellite images, etc. Some weather apps are not as user friendly and can frequently lock up a smartphone. Read reviews carefully and if you're unsure about a particular app, consider writing some of your own feedback comments. Google Play offers Android users hundreds of apps and reviews to consider. IPhone users can still look up app reviews on Google Play to see if similar ones are available from the Apple store. All screenshots I am sharing from my Android device are from weather apps that I have used.

RadarNow App

RadarNow gives live local radar scans from nearby National Weather Service forecast offices. User defined settings allow the radar to pinpoint your location based on a gps signal when the app first starts. One thing to look out for when viewing radar apps is how some lower resolution composite reflectivity radar images don't always accurately match what type of precipitation is falling from the sky. I find this particular radar app highly accurate with the base reflectivity that comes directly from the National Weather Service offices. App users are able to navigate to different radar sites using an interactive interface. Although there is no national map view option, this is one of my favorite free versions local weather radar apps. There is an optional subscription fee for more advanced features.

Earth Now App - Interactive NASA Imagery

 

This app allows users to download the latest global NASA imagery from multiple various map types. Map options include air temperature, salinity, carbon monoxide, gravity, ozone, sea level, water vapor and a default visible satellite. The app is interactive for viewing particular regions of the Earth, but the zoom feature is slightly limited. Weekly animations are available for users to download for select map types. Another interesting feature is the details button that describes the significance of the map you are viewing and a little background information about the particular map type. The remarkably stunning images from NASA are a must have!

Blitzortung Lightning Monitor App

 

This near real-time lightning detector app allows custom settings for users to choose the app refresh rate from 20 seconds up to 10 minutes. Lightning strikes are shown from the last 5 to 25 minutes. White dots indicate the most recent strikes while red dots show older data. The app also gives notifications of nearby lightning threats. I downloaded my own thunderstorm notification tone to be used as my lightning alert notification. When you see many white dots popping up near your location, take any necessary precautions to protect yourselves.

Simple Weather Alert App

Simple Weather Alert notifies users of threatening weather nearby. Notifications can be set to be received for extreme and severe warnings, moderate or worse advisories, any severity, or no alerts. There are additional options to keep the alerts silent during designated time frames. All app notification alerts are officially issued by the National Weather Service and its partners. Sometimes you may not want to be disturbed from a modest advisory during the overnight hours. However, there are situations where you would want to be alerted during higher weather risks overnight. Never rely primarily on weather apps to alert you of severe weather. Also have a NOAA weather radio nearby as your primary source.

mPing App - Report your own weather

   

mPing is a crowd-sourcing weather reporting app. Users submit their own local weather conditions to NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory based on their gps detected location. The reports are used to improve scientific understandings on the development processes of various weather hazards. There are many weather options to report from reduced visibility to more extreme severe weather hazards such as hail and tornadoes. Users are able to view other user submitted nearby weather reports from an interactive map. Whether you are looking for your weather conditions in your backyard or on the road, mPing is another must have for weather app enthusiasts. 

The Weather Channel App

 

This app has gone through multiple versions over the years that have been previously vaguely too plain and basic. The most recent update is now well worth the many features available. Users have access to current weather data for nearby locations with daily forecasts and optional alerts of threatening weather. Local forecasts from this particular app have had their difficulties, especially considering the fact that most meteorologists from The Weather Channel are centralized in the Atlanta area.

Other than infrequent forecast updates, several other new features from this app may attract new users. Live interactive radar for the entire U.S. allows users to easily and accurately track storms. There are many various map layer overlays to choose from including cloud cover, radar, temperature, dew point, humidity, winds, and others of which there are too many to list here. Additional seasonal map layers are used for Tropical weather and Winter weather. The app also provides users of video updates of active weather around the world, in the U.S., and for your local area.

Which of these weather apps do you all prefer? Feel free to comment below with your own reviews.

Links to my Capital Weather Gang Articles

The following list of web links directs users to the blog articles I wrote as an intern of the Washington Post Capital Weather Gang.

 

What kind of weather should Nationals Park expect for the NHL Winter Classic? (12/18/2014) 

Which parts of U.S. could benefit most from El Niño? (5/29/2014)

Drones could revolutionize weather forecasts, but must overcome safety concerns (4/25/2014)

Sochi Olympics: The climate to expect, and the weather it will get (2/7/2014)

Snowstorm crushes New England with up to two feet of snow (1/3/2014)

Inside Washington, D.C.’s urban heat island effect (11/21/2013)

Fall foliage update: don’t wait until it’s too late (10/25/2013)

Mid-Atlantic fall foliage right on schedule; near peak conditions in mountains (10/18/2013)

Weather in the wilderness: 4 scary real-life situations (10/16/2013)

Identifying weather hazards on the road (10/1/2013)

Recognizing weather risks at sports venues: why it’s important (9/20/2013)

Detailing Atmospheric Battles Along Weather Fronts

Connecting Weather to the Battlefield

Imagine a field full of militia preparing for battle in an open field while beating wooden drums. There is a brief lull as the silent landscape glistens in sunshine. The two armies clash and warfare breaks out. Rapid gunfire and canons go off and bodies drop. A Victor is eventually declared and the aftermath is surveyed by medical professionals for injuries.

What does this situation have to do with weather? Let's try changing the scene and instead of an open field we have still air. In the distant skies, rumbles of thunder can be heard similar to the beating drums. Ambient temperatures feel warm, but humid until the wind picks up while transporting billowing clouds towards the serene atmosphere. Skies open up with fierce downpours and energetic thunder and lighting. Temperatures rapidly fall as in the case of soldiers dying on a battlefield, but eventually the storms gradually fade and dissipate. Damage to infrastructure is checked thoroughly. According to a page from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, "Norwegian meteorologists developed the concept during the First World War". There you have it, the historical origins of a weather front!

Cold Front Weather Map Symbol

Source: NOAA Weather Prediction Center

Rapid Vengeance Along a Cold Front

Cold fronts most closely resemble the battlefield analogy mentioned previously. Densely chilling air rapidly advances and eventually overcomes warmer temperatures in the vicinity of a cold front. The warmer buoyant air is forced upward over-top the cold front and a line of showers and/or thunderstorms develop that can often times stretch from Canada all the way to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Cold fronts typically trek along the westerly flow aloft, from west to east at a rapid pace. They also tend to stretch southward from a mid-latitude cyclone's center of circulation. A passing cold front can most noticeably be experienced during winter months when temperature contrasts across a region have high variability between locations.

Warm Front Weather Map Symbol

Source: NOAA Weather Prediction Center

Persistent Transitions Along a Warm Front

For a warm front, showers will be light to moderate and tend last longer than with a cold front. Warm fronts usually progress slowly northward in the Northern Hemisphere bringing along warm and moist air from the tropics. Temperatures gradually rise ahead of the warm front before showers develop, if any. Occasionally strong thunderstorms with heavier showers can form as a warm front approaches, having effects more like a cold front. These particular conditions are most readily seen in the middle of summer and can last for several hours at a particular location.

Stationary Front Weather Map Symbol

Source: NOAA Weather Prediction Center

Steady, But Not Calm Along a Stationary Front

Stationary fronts exhibit little to no movement. Persistent showers that develop can last over multiple days over the same area. Common occurrences of stationary fronts develop from several scenarios when two opposing fronts meet, two weather systems in proximity to one another interact or block the other from further progressing, along land-sea coastal interfaces, or within valley mountain passes. Eventually one of these effects will break down and the front will either dissipate or progress forward embedded within another front or weather system.

Surface Analysis Fronts

This is a graphic of the surface analysis weather fronts map from the morning of October 28, 2012 as Hurricane Sandy was heading north off the coast of the Eastern U.S.

Source: NOAA Weather Prediction Center

Breaking Down Weather and Climate Extremes

Several Factors Required for Attribution to Extremes

Any weather phenomenon can impact any location on Earth at any time, but the probability of occurrence of each event varies. As the global population increases and expands, more weather events are being reported locally. This fact alone may lead to more extreme weather events being observed. Global climatic changes may influence the actual number of extreme weather event occurrences. Long term variability in atmospheric circulations may be linked to natural or anthropogenic (human influenced) effects. There are likely atmospheric impacts from both scenarios.

Source: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Image by Reto Stöckli (land surface, shallow water, clouds).

Regional Variability in the Earth's Atmosphere

Without weather, seasonal changes would not happen. All else being equal, your climate would remain stagnant and boring. Interactions between regions of different climates and their land, sea, and air interfaces drive local weather patterns. To complicate things more, different elevations exist among these boundaries. Vast mountain ranges and valleys extend across multiple continental borders. Underwater canyons and ridges spread out across all ocean basins. Atmospheric waves can affect the heights of temperature, pressure, moisture, etc. In addition, particulate matter interacts chemically, biologically, geologically, and physically as particles are transported around the world.

Observed Precipitation Changes

Source: Figure SPM.2 from the IPCC 5th Assessment Report Working Group 1

Super-saturating a Warmer Atmosphere

Climate scientists have shown that as global atmospheric temperatures rise due at least in part to human activities, water vapor concentrations will also rise. In terms of thermodynamics, a single water vapor molecule has a higher heat capacity than that of dry air. This means that water vapor molecules have the ability to hold more moisture at higher temperatures. Oceans cover approximately 70% of the Earth's surface area. As sea surface temperatures rise, evaporation rates into the atmosphere increase the water vapor content in the atmosphere. Having the greater quantity of moisture in the warmer atmosphere would allow clouds to hold moisture longer before producing precipitation. Timing between each weather event lengthens while clouds take longer to condense. This results in both shorter-lived intense precipitation events and longer-term droughts.

New Jersey Flooding from Hurricane Sandy

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Increased Vulnerability from Human Migrations

Populations have increasingly been relocating towards coastal areas. These migrations increase their vulnerability to being impacted from coastal storms. Flooding from storm surges has the highest impacts along coastlines. This is true with or without any statistical long term trends in storm frequency or intensity. Any location can be impacted from extreme events, but coastal residents should especially be aware of their increased vulnerability.

Weather and Climate Data Analysis: Detecting Signals for High D.C. Snow Seasons

The goal was to compare global weather and climate data signals for years that Washington, D.C. experienced above average snowfall during meteorological winter months of December, January, and February. The years chosen were pulled from the following link that documents all D.C. seasonal snowfall from the D.C. area National Weather Service office. All maps were produced from NOAA/ESRL Physical Science Division, Boulder Colorado form their website at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/.

U.S. Winter Air Temperature Tendencies (NOAA/ESRL Physical Science Division)

The first map shows lower than average temperature anomalies for the D.C. area from December to February during years that D.C. experienced high snowfall years of at least 20".  The average seasonal snowfall in D.C. is 15".  These regional lower temperatures should be expected as a result of vast snow-cover reflecting solar radiation that would otherwise be absorbed by the Earth's surface as heat without the snow-cover.  Another interesting result is how most of the continental U.S. also tends to experience low temperature anomalies during D.C. high snowfall years.

 U.S. Winter Precipitation Rate Tendencies (NOAA/ESRL Physical Science Division)

U.S.Winter Soil Moisture Tendencies (NOAA/ESRL Physical Science Division)

The next two maps show that high D.C. snow years tend produce above average precipitation rates (top) and slightly above average soil moisture (bottom).  High precipitation rates also typically result in high concentrations in soil moisture.  Similar correlation over the Ohio Valley has interesting results that low precipitation rates tend to lead to low soil moisture during years that D.C. has high snowfall.

Northern Hemisphere Winter Sea Level Pressure Tendencies (NOAA/ESRL Physical Science Division)

 
Global teleconnection signals can also occasionally be linked to repetitive weather events and associated climatic trends.  The next map (above) shows the tendency for a negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) during D.C. snow years with higher than normal sea level pressure tendencies over the arctic region.  This result verifies the many scientific studies that a negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) correlates well with Eastern U.S. low winter temperature anomalies.  

 

Winter Tropical Pacific Sea Surface Temperature Tendencies (NOAA/ESRL Physical Science Division)

The final map generated shows a strong El Niño signal during high D.C. snow years.  Not only does the map generate an El Niño signal, but also a Modoki El Niño signal where the warm sea surface temperature anomalies are centered over the central Pacific basin rather than the typical East Pacific El Niño. 

The NOAA/ESRL Physical Science Division products are excellent tools for generating atmospheric signals that can be verified with past, present, or future conditions.  This analysis for D.C. high snow years can be reproduced for other locations and weather events over various time periods of interest.  

Documenting a Year's Worth of Local Weather

Celebrating a Weather Station's One Year Anniversary



Today (September 2014) marks the one year anniversary of collecting continuous data from a weather station located in Northern Virginia. The station is mounted atop a 10 foot wooden post to allow the wind vane minimal interference. A dark plastic disk-like cover that was previously used as a flower pot base shades the temperature sensor from having excess direct sunlight. Always consider minimizing direct exposure to the sun when positioning a weather station or temperature readings may often be too high! Reflective aluminum foil was sealed underneath the weather station's flower pot cover to minimize heat from the darker colored solid plastic.

Weather data over the last year will be detailed from the station that includes readings of temperature, humidity, and precipitation observations. The automated measurements that were collected will be compared to those of the official local weather readings for the Washington, D.C. area.

Connecting Local Weather to Washington D.C.

The following graph shows how local temperature readings (red line) compare to those recorded for Washington, D.C. (blue line). Shockingly, there appears to be relatively strong statistical correlation for maximum temperatures between the two weather stations that are located approximately eight miles apart. What should end up being the highest annual temperature of 99 degrees for 2014 was recorded on July 2 for both stations. The lowest temperatures for 2014 for both stations again fell on the same day on January 19 when temperatures never rose above 19 degrees thanks to the polar vortex strong dips in the Jet Stream into the Continental U.S.


Daily Maximum Temperature Comparison

Comfortably Uncomfortable Proximity to Saturation 

Multiple factors of the state of the atmosphere determine your outdoor comfort levels. Humidity and temperature are included within these conditions. As already shown, temperatures between the D.C. airport and Virginia weather stations have little variability, but the next graphs show different results. The top relative humidity graph values for the Virginia weather station (green line) almost always exceed those that are recorded for D.C. (burgundy line). This result is surprising, because the D.C. station is located where there are likely influences from the adjacent Potomac River.

Basic meteorology principles reveal how proximity to a water body can induce cloud development, but for some unknown reason, the relative humidity values from the top graph tend to be higher in the suburban Northern Virginia location about 8 miles west of the Potomac River. The precipitation comparison lower graph between the two stations does support the water proximity idea. D.C. precipitation (orange line) tends to often exceed Virginia's precipitation (purple line) from the weather station. Saturation occurs only when humidity rises to 100%. Soon after 100% humidity is exceeded, the atmosphere reaches supersaturation and precipitation will soon form. Typically, surface relative humidity values close to 100% can indicate precipitation is on the way, if not already falling.


Daily Maximum Relative Humidity Comparison


Daily Precipitation Comparison

Weather and Climate Data Analysis: Monthly Temperature Anomalies for Central Pacific Modoki and East Pacific El Niño Years

The goal was to compare monthly temperature averages in the continental U.S. to years that included a Modoki El Niño when above average sea surface temperatures were in the Central Pacific Ocean.  The years chosen were pulled from a publication in the Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, Differences in Teleconnection over the North Pacific and Rainfall Shift over the USA Associated with Two Types of El Niño during Boreal Autumn (Zhang et al. 2012).  East Pacific El Niño maps were also generated for comparisons.


The following graphics show U.S. monthly temperature anomalies (values relative to normal) compared to composite years that had El Niño conditions.  Meteorologists have continued to reiterate that a Modoki El Niño could develop later this year (2014), though the most recent trends have been toward a weaker event.
 

 

August Temperature Anomalies for years with Modoki El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)

August Temperature Anomalies for years with East Pacific El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)

September Temperature Anomalies for years with Modoki El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)

September Temperature Anomalies for years with East Pacific El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)

October Temperature Anomalies for years with Modoki El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)

October Temperature Anomalies for years with East Pacific El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)

November Temperature Anomalies for years with Modoki El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)

November Temperature Anomalies for years with East Pacific El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)

December Temperature Anomalies for years with Modoki El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)

December Temperature Anomalies for years with East Pacific El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)

 

January Temperature Anomalies for years with Modoki El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)

January Temperature Anomalies for years with East Pacific El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)

February Temperature Anomalies for years with Modoki El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)

February Temperature Anomalies for years with East Pacific El Niño (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Science  Division)