MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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A typical weather app tells you the weather of a particular area or town, but is the an app where you can set a much larger area, for example Kent and Sussex, or south east England then the app tells you which parts are expected to not have rain? And only tell you which areas will not have rain. So I can just click on the app and it tells me areas x,y,z are due to be dry tomorrow.
Just seems quicker than searching multiple areas for each day.
Rain alarm is a great free app and a reliable indicator of imminent rain as it uses rain radar..
You can set your location and if it rains within your set distance then it alerts you
Can it do the opposite and tell me which areas are dry? I have a lot of annual leave and just want to drive somewhere and ride. With the current rain that seems to be everywhere, I just want to know which locations don't have rain forecast.
Ventusky -
Full country (zoomable) weather map / radar etc
Met Office app and use the forecast map. Or just watch the Met Office on YouTube.
Most apps just use the global forecasts generated by the US as far as I can tell which aren't accurate enough really.
Take the next 2 weeks off..
It isn't going to rain as we are about to have a heatwave.
What the Forecast. Set it to the sweariest setting.
Doesn't do what you need, but makes me chuckle every morning.
I use Dark Sky, think it cost me £2 maybe. It only tells you the forecast for the next hour but is very accurate and has a zoomable rain radar map. You can get a pretty good idea of where will be dry or not over a half day period.
If we decide to go camping and want to see what part of the country will have the best weather over the next few days I use Metcheck's 10 day forecast. A while ago we were just about to head off to South Wales but I checked and saw a very simple graphic that showed that Wales was going to be rainy but the South East was going to be glorious. It was correct, and we had a good few days in Whitstable.
mixture of yr.no and rain today
Not an app but metcheck.com I find quite reliable for its 3 day forecast. Beyond 3 days most forecasts seem to be a guessing game.
MeteoBlue app has a "where2go" menu option where you can see the best place to be over the next few days. Don't think you can configure what "best" is, eg I'd prefer drizzle over a gusty wind, but it's a start.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.meteoblue.droid
Actually the website has the same thing
https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/outdoorsports/where2go/swindon_united-kingdom_2636389
Met Office app and use the forecast map
In the iPad version of the met office app (haven’t checked other devices) there’s a ‘map’ section at the bottom of the screen that let’s you see a map of the UK and scroll forward 24 hours to see the predicted rainfall. Quite useful for seeing what’s coming your way. I’ve generally found that app to be quite accurate, although you have to be careful with place name searches to know which weather station you’re getting (so ‘Great Dun Fell 2’ is more useful than ‘Dufton’ when planning a ride, for example).
A combo of the BBC forecasts and the Met office app here. Also use the net weather.tv sight to look at the rainfall radar and se what’s coming in for the next few hours based upon what’s come along in the past 2hrs. Rainfall radar is best for avoiding the rain
Can it do the opposite and tell me which areas are dry? I have a lot of annual leave and just want to drive somewhere and ride. With the current rain that seems to be everywhere, I just want to know which locations don’t have rain forecast.
Not going to happen. Where the U.K. is positioned geographically, it’s just not feasible to forecast that accurately. You want that sort of certainty, head for the west coast of America, they’ve got drought conditions for the foreseeable future: Lake Mead is about 36% full, IIRC. Honestly, how long have you lived in this country and not noticed just how far ahead a forecast is likely to be accurate? About 48 hours, if you’re really lucky.
The further north you go, the less accurate a forecast is likely to be, but if you want long periods of dry weather in this country, head for Kent and the south-east; it’s technically a desert, it receives less annual rainfall than many parts of Spain.
Also, use WeatherProHD and Dark Skies for getting weather forecasts, although Dark Skies is now only available for iOS.
used to use Dark Sky until it was taken off android now using AccuWeather which is just as good (paid version). Worked a treat on our Friday night when i warned the cycling gang of some heavy rain on the way and we all got duly soaked.
I use Darksky and even got my money back for the app when Apple bought them out.
As above (and discovered through recommendation on here) - ventusky.com
Sample of what you can get
RainToday for seeing what is going to happen in the next hour or so, it is very very accurate, down to whether it’s going to be a shower or down pour
Not going to happen. Where the U.K. is positioned geographically, it’s just not feasible to forecast that accurately.
Ah, that classic Geography A-Level question: "The British Isles are the battleground of the air masses; discuss"
Hiya,
I use Rain radar its free and is really useful as it gives the rain predictions through the day.
JeZ
Yeah it's actually really very difficult to predict exactly where rain will fall, particularly when it is showery (i.e. cold fronts and troughs) rather than continuous rain of warm fronts. So it is actually better to watch the videos and listen to the audio ("widespread risk of showers" means they don't know where will develop showers for instance). The apps now give a forecast down to postcode level but it can't be that accurate at that level unless we have very persistent weather (i.e. a high pressure or a clear band of rain from a warm front coming through, and even then timing can be off). Agree for a few hours ahead look at the weather radar and watch how it is moving and the rain develops over high ground. Also learn a bit about UK weather front systems and use the Met Office surface pressure charts to have an idea of extent / expected fronts: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/maps-and-charts/surface-pressure
I would also note even the radar can be off especially with intensity and if there is mist / fog that rises to drizzle or in cold weather in snow / sleet, so they aren't perfect.