Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Weather and Snow: What's Behind the Forecast?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
johnsawyercjs
macrumors 68000
I've seen that happen too where I live, about 25 miles northeast of Sacramento, but more often when the weather is rainy here, Apple's Weather app has accurately forecast the rainfall patterns and amounts even when the rain stops and starts during the same day. If it's often or even usually able to do that, at least for where I live, I wonder why it occasionally reports that it's raining when I can see it's not, and the other way around.
G5isAlive
Contributor
because its not a forecast if they report it after? seriously, what is your point? its a weather forecast. It happens before. what would you prefer? that it said 'too much variability, I am not going to forecast anything"?
MysteriousStain
macrumors 6502
Some people will tell you “forecasted” is a valid form of the irregular verb. Those people are wrong.
WilliApple
macrumors 65816
HouseLannister
macrumors 68040
Where I am, Apple Weather has consistently predicted 24” to 19” of snow on Sunday, as did AccuWeather at the beginning of the week, but all other weather has been lower and dropped much more, so Apple Weather is definitely an outlier for me now. AccuWeather says 1.1” for Sunday versus Apple Weather’s 19”. That’s pretty bad.
QuarterSwede
macrumors G4
I have experienced this as well in California. It can be actively raining, but Weather will show no precipitation.
Also strange to be reading about weather happening in part of a far off country, like anybody else calls about their local weather events!
The Ensorcerer
macrumors newbie
I use Forecast Advisor to find the most accurate service, historically, for my area.
"ForecastAdvisor will show you the accuracy of the major weather forecasters, including AerisWeather, Foreca, Microsoft, the National Weather Service, OpenWeather, The Weather Channel, Wetter.com, WeatherBit, World Weather Online, and others. We also provide links to your city's weather forecast from all the other weather forecasters, so you can compare for yourself."
I've been doing this for years and check every time I've moved.
"ForecastAdvisor will show you the accuracy of the major weather forecasters, including AerisWeather, Foreca, Microsoft, the National Weather Service, OpenWeather, The Weather Channel, Wetter.com, WeatherBit, World Weather Online, and others. We also provide links to your city's weather forecast from all the other weather forecasters, so you can compare for yourself."
I've been doing this for years and check every time I've moved.
jdawgnoonan
macrumors 65816
I was a paying Dark Sky user and was disappointed after I noticed that Apple's forecasts are often not very good whereas Dark Sky was usually quite good. I still use Apple Weather, but, unlike Dark Sky back in the day, it is not my primary trusted source for weather. I personally feel Accuweather is far more accurate and timely.
Gave up using weather app its so inaccurate, especially their hourly forecasts, the amount of times it says rain in due or snow with 90% chance and nothing happens is ridiculous
I was a Dark Sky user before the purchase and found it to be very inaccurate. It would be raining outside and say it was cloudy. Or snowing and say it was raining. So not surprised. I use Hello Weather with The Weather Channel as its data source.
I don’t understand how anyone can use this weather app? During a winter storm how is this radar even REMOTELY useful? There is no way to differentiate snow sleet ice rain…
Also, apples weather app numbers make sense as it pulls from models. Which models are weighted? No idea.
Also, apples weather app numbers make sense as it pulls from models. Which models are weighted? No idea.
They are when it’s not even working as well as Dark Sky was.
The confusion is about why Apple Weather is so bad compared to other forecasts. TWC tends to be the most accurate for what actually occurs in my area. It doesn’t make sense that Apple Weather is supposedly pulling data from TWC when their forecasts aren’t ever that similar.
boswald
macrumors 68020
I'm confused about why this article is necessary.
BotchQue
macrumors 65816
Gary, from macmost.com, just posted a video today on the Weather app in Mac OS:
https://macmost.com/10-mac-weather-app-tips.html
At the 1:10 mark, he explains where Apple gets all its weather info, and "Dark Sky" is not mentioned at all (I'm impressed by the number of data feeds it does get).
I found that Weather, for me, is incredibly accurate; and at my age I'm amazed at how good weather predictions overall currently are, being good even days in advance. I remember back in the '60s when our local TV weatherman, Dave "Drop" Dedrick, was live on the air predicting clear skies now thru Friday or whatever, and someone in the TV crew nailed him right in the face with a snowball, as we were in blizzard conditions! (I've not been able to find a EweTube of that incident, but it was a long time ago) Damn, that was funny!
https://macmost.com/10-mac-weather-app-tips.html
At the 1:10 mark, he explains where Apple gets all its weather info, and "Dark Sky" is not mentioned at all (I'm impressed by the number of data feeds it does get).
I found that Weather, for me, is incredibly accurate; and at my age I'm amazed at how good weather predictions overall currently are, being good even days in advance. I remember back in the '60s when our local TV weatherman, Dave "Drop" Dedrick, was live on the air predicting clear skies now thru Friday or whatever, and someone in the TV crew nailed him right in the face with a snowball, as we were in blizzard conditions! (I've not been able to find a EweTube of that incident, but it was a long time ago) Damn, that was funny!
I think it's a good thing to point out that the stock Weather app is or can be wildly inaccurate, especially compared to other options. It was newsworthy when Apple acquired Dark Sky, but what was the purpose of that? Forecasts aren't any better. In some cases, they're worse.
richpjr
macrumors 601
If you want to know the most accurate weather source in your location in the US, forecast advisor lists it:
www.forecastadvisor.com
For some reason they don't include Apple. Apple weather where I live outside Nashville is pretty bad as far as accuracy goes so I use Hello Weather with the Weather Company data source (parent of the weather channel) or Foreca.
ForecastAdvisor — Which Weather Forecaster Is Most Accurate?
Find out which weather forecaster is most accurate for your city. ForecastAdvisor compares forecast accuracy across 2,200+ locations worldwide.
www.forecastadvisor.com
For some reason they don't include Apple. Apple weather where I live outside Nashville is pretty bad as far as accuracy goes so I use Hello Weather with the Weather Company data source (parent of the weather channel) or Foreca.
